Learning to Fly
by EagleHeart
Summary: First part of Reno's Biography, and the only one with correct formatting. Blah. Ah well. 60 pages in length, and very dear to my heart.


Reno felt a sharp nudge in his ribs and groaned. He could feel sunlight piercing his eyelids and he threw an arm over his face to try and counteract the sensation.

"Get up, ya bum," a voice growled.

"I beg your pardon?" Reno opened his eyes and glared up at the figure of an irate looking bus driver.

"Get offa my bus, rummy."

"Have you got any idea who you're talking to?" Reno asked indignantly as he sat up and looked around the empty bus, ignoring the feeling that his head was going to fall off. He knew from experience that it wasn't going anywhere.

"Nope and I don't care. End of the line." The driver firmly took hold of Reno's collar and hauled him roughly to the doorway. He hurled him unceremoniously out the doorway onto the sidewalk.

"Hey! Ow! You could at least have the decency to tell me where the hell I am!"

"Corner of Shinra and Third." The bus pulled away with a hiss and a roar of the engine.

Reno chuckled and pulled himself off the ground, dusting his already rumpled uniform off. "Now for how the hell I got here…" With a formidable amount of concentration he managed to remember him and Yuffie in a bar…and Yuffie saying she had an exam the next morning and had to go…and getting to the parking lot and realizing Yuffie had swiped his keys…and then taking the first bus he could catch and hoping it would take him somewhere in the general vicinity of his apartment. Looking east and wincing as the rising sun shone in his eyes, Reno caught sight of his apartment building and started to make his way towards it. Idly he wondered if it was possible to walk off a hangover. As he walked, he heard loud noises coming from ahead of him. A particularly loud and giggly shriek stabbed through his head and he gritted his teeth, quickening his pace. As he passed a chain link fence between two buildings, he slowed down to see what all the noise was. Beyond the boundary was an asphalt playground where a bunch of children ran and played foursquare and tag. Trees, flowers, and low shrubs in planters lined the walls and on either side of the area large, colorful murals were painted. With a sharp intake of breath, Reno glanced up at the name on the building to the right of the square of pavement. A sign above the stern looking visage of the building read, "St. Charles' Orphanage." Reno laced his fingers through the wire of the fence and looked in, watching the children play while the occasional well-meaning nun shouted reprimands. Reno continued to scan the courtyard, mentally rearranging things the way _he_ remembered them.

_Learning to Fly_

_(Part 1)_

_Life will go on  
Soon it is gone  
It's bigger that we can conceive  
Wink of an eye  
A thousand years  
Into eternity we shed our tears  
  
I'm changing,  
Rearranging my destiny  
  
Learning to fly  
Touching sky on my way  
Learning to fly  
High above the sorrows  
To a new day I fly  
  
Not where you stand  
Nor where you are  
It matters only where you look  
To take the good  
With all that's bad  
It is the only way to go  
  
The minutes  
The hours  
The years  
Run fast  
  
Learning to fly  
Touching sky on my way  
Learning to fly  
High above the sorrows  
To a new day I fly  
  
****_

"Now, Sister Elisabeth, I realize you are new here at our orphanage, but you must understand that we do things differently than your order. Our values are more…"

"Old fashioned?" the young nun supplied helpfully, tucking a lock of strawberry blonde hair behind her ear. Sister Elisabeth was in her early twenties, bright and cheery and from an order of nuns who traveled the world looking for their vocations.

"Traditional," the older sister who was leading Elisabeth through the halls of the orphanage corrected sternly. "We pride ourselves on maintaining the old ways. Stern discipline, harsh teaching, and religious devotion are the three pillars of our order."

"I…see…" Sister Elisabeth looked around at the gray green walls of the orphanage, shaking her head slightly. This was not a good place for children. A group of kindergarteners walked past in single file, behind a blustery looking old nun. Sister Elisabeth smiled down as they past and one or two of the children looked up and returned the gesture, but most kept their eyes forward or towards the floor. "Which class will I be teaching, Sister Agnes?"

"Second Grade and you won't be teaching, you'll be an aide. The children are out for recess right now," Sister Agnes responded. She led the way through an empty corridor to a pair of double doors. "I'll show you around the play area." Agnes pushed the door open and allowed Sister Elisabeth her first glance at her students. Children ran and shouted in the playground, laughing and shrieking while outside the area people bustled back and forth and cars whizzed past on the main street of Midgar.

"Sister Agnes!" A little girl with pigtails and a short kilt like skirt ran up to the older nun and tugged on her habit.

"What is it, child?" the old nun asked.

"C-Carmen, Jeff, and Louis are beating up on Charles!" the little girl gasped.

Agnes sighed and drew a long strap of leather from where it hung around her waist. "Come, Sister Elisabeth. It seems you shall be allowed a firsthand look at justice at St. Charles," she said grimly, following the pigtailed girl.

Sister Elisabeth trailed behind reluctantly as Agnes wove her way through the crowd to a corner where children stood shouting and jeering. The old nun stopped in front of a group of boys about ten years of age. "Carmen! Jeffery! Louis! Stop it right now!"

Two of the boys grudgingly turned around while the third gave a smaller boy who lay crumpled on the ground a last kick, hard, in the ribs, before turning to stare defiantly at Agnes.

"Louis Martin!" Agnes' eyes blazed. "Come here!"

The boy slouched forward, realizing he may have gone a bit too far. "Yes ma'am?"

"Turn around," the nun ordered coldly.

The boy obeyed and closed his eyes, gritting his teeth. Sister Agnes reared back and lashed him hard in the back with the strap of leather. She continued to hit him until he finally cried out in pain. In the background, a bell toned and children started drifting slowly back towards the school, hesitant to miss any more punishment.

"Back inside," Agnes boomed out. "You too, Louis. No supper for you or Carmen and Jeffery tonight either."

"Yes ma'am." The trio hustled back into the school leaving Sister Agnes, Sister Elisabeth, and the little boy who hadn't moved from the ground, alone on the playground.

"Oh, get up, Charles," Sister Agnes said scornfully, nudging the boy with her shoe.

"Is he all right?" Elisabeth asked, sounding concerned.

"He's fine." Charles didn't move and Sister Agnes narrowed her eyes. "Up boy! I'll strap you anyway for fighting. I saw the cut on Carmen's lip. Who do you fancy did that?" When the boy still didn't respond, Sister Agnes lifted the belt above her head, but paused and handed the strap to Elisabeth. "You do it. You need to learn. I'm going inside to tend to my duties. This whelp is in your class, so bring him in when you're done. He knows the way."

"Yes, Sister," Elisabeth murmured dutifully. She watched her superior bustle across the playground, habit billowing in the breeze. Her gaze returned to the little boy who was still curled up on the ground, tightly in a ball. The wind ruffled his messy red hair and upon closer inspection she could see he was trembling. Her heart went out to him and she knelt on the ground and gently laid a hand on his shoulder. His head jerked up and his big, tearful, teal-green eyes met her soft brown ones. His eyes flickered to the strap she still held loosely in one hand and widened fearfully.

"I'm sorry, ma'am!" he protested, pushing himself off the ground and backing away, only to find himself in a corner with no means of escape. "I didn't…I wasn't tryin' to get in a fight! B-but they were teasin' me and…and Louis started it! He hit me first…well… actually he pushed me and I hit him…but I didn't hit hard…I can't, 'cause I'm not very big…and he's lots bigger 'n me and…they were chasing me! I…" the boy bit his lip, starting to realize he was fighting a losing battle. "Don't…please…don't hit me hard…" he mumbled finally, staring at the ground and clenching his hands into fists.

Sister Elisabeth smiled gently and lightly touched the leather strip to his shoulder three times. "There. I think that should serve, don't you? I've never believed in hitting people."

"W-what?" The little boy looked up, eyes a mixture of fear and hope. "Oh, me neither ma'am! This time was just…I didn't mean it this time…it's just they were chasing me and I only really hit Louis once…and I kicked Carmen, but that was an accident, I promise! It was his own fault for calling me scrawny! They were hitting me lots more than I hit them and…Usually they stop if I lie still 'cause then they think they killed me or something and then they stop, but this time Louis really wanted to hurt me bad…are you a nun? You dress like the other sisters, but I think you're too pretty to be a nun. Nuns're all old bats."

Sister Elisabeth laughed and then frowned; catching sight of a small cut that trickled blood onto the boy's forehead. "Oh! Oh…let me see…" At kneeling height, she was about at eye level with the child, and she gently touched her fingers to the small cut. "Oh, poor dear. Come on, we'll go to the infirmary and get that fixed up…" She took his hand and made to head back to the school, but he didn't follow.

"S'ok, I'm fine…" he mumbled, scuffing his shoes on the ground. He wore a white t-shirt and a pair of baggy pants, too large for him so they were taken in at the waist, but still fell around his shoes and looked like they would trip him when he walked.

"Don't be silly, it'll get infected," Sister Elisabeth chided

"Do we have to, ma'am? If we go to the 'firmary then I'll get the strap for getting in a fight…"

"Oh…very well, you can come to my room…Charles, wasn't it?"

"The other sisters call 'em cells," Charles supplied helpfully. "And my name ain't Charles, it's Reno. The sisters call me Charles, but it's not my name."

"Reno? How do you know that?" Elisabeth asked curiously.

Reno looked up at the young woman with a calculating expression, trying to measure whether he could trust her or not. Finally he dug in one of his pockets and produced a worn looking matchbook. On the front was an eye in a martini glass and a phone number. Scrawled on the back was the word "Reno" and another phone number. "That's my name."

"I see…" Sister Elisabeth took the matchbook and turned it over in her hands. "Where did you get this?" She recognized the logo from a well-known, but decidedly seedy lounge in downtown Midgar.

"Always had it," Reno answered, watching nervously as the young woman examined his treasure.

"Oh." Elisabeth returned the matchbook and smiled again. "Very well. Come along Reno."

The little boy grinned and squeezed this sister's hand as he followed her to her room, chattering incessantly all the way. "What Sector are you from?" he finally asked, when they reached Elisabeth's small cell.

"I'm not from a Sector."

"Huh?" Reno looked thoroughly confused. "Where can you live if you don't live in a Sector?"

Sister Elisabeth frowned slightly and boosted the small boy onto the bed. "Reno, there's a whole other world outside of Midgar."

"Yup. Sector 'don't-go-there-or-you're-dead-meat'. No one lives out there. This is Sector Six, but Kristen is from Sector Four and Daniel is from Sector _One_! That's all the way across the plate…oooh! And I heard that Michael is from Sector Seven _underneath_ the plate! That's almost as bad as living outside Midgar! I dunno where I'm from…I guess Sector Six…I wish I could visit another Sector and find out what it's like…Sister Agnes says if you're bad you have to go underneath the plate. She says I'm a problem and I'm not gonna amount to anything so I guess that means I'm gonna live under the plate someday…but I been good this week! Sister Mary Carmichael says I'm due for a strapping soon because I haven't had one all week and it's Wednesday already…unless…" Reno paused the flow of his chatter. "D'you think that the one you gave me today counts? I mean, it wasn't like the ones the other sisters give me, 'cause you don't hit very hard. Maybe we could count it for half…or…maybe a quarter would be better…"

"No, I don't think this one counts at all." Sister Elisabeth had been gently bathing the gash on Reno's forehead with warm water while he talked and now dried it off and carefully taped a bandage over his eye. "There. Good as new."

"Thank you ma'am! I gotta go now, gonna be late for class and get a strap." Reno hopped off the bed.

"You'll have to show me the way to your classroom, I'm going to be a teacher's aide."

Reno's green eyes bulged. "Really?"

"Yes."

"In my class?"

"Uh huh." Elisabeth smiled at the boy's exuberance.

"Yeah! We're learning multiplication, but I don't know what that is. I think it's just adding except different. Sister Mary Carmichael says I'm wrong, but I thought about it really hard and I think my way makes sense but I have to practice because it's like, one plus one is two and one times one is…no…wait, that's not it…_two _times one is two and it's really like your going one plus one and three times one is three so it's like one plus one plus one or adding one…three _times_. Oh! I get it!" Reno smiled proudly as Elisabeth ruffled his hair.

"I think you just look at things differently."

"Oh…" Reno looked slightly crestfallen. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"No, no, no, it's a good thing."

"Oh good." Reno knocked on the door of one of the classrooms and waited by the door. "You…you aren't gonna let Sister Mary C strap me, are you? And you aren't gonna tell her I called her Mary C?"

"No, of course not." Sister Elisabeth took Reno's hand and squeezed it reassuringly.

"Oh! I didn't ask, what's your name?"

"Sister Elisabeth Clarence, but you can just call me Lisa."

"Sister Lisa?"

"Sure." The door to the classroom swung open and an officious looking nun in a stiffly starched habit waited.

"Charles! Late again! Well, you know the punishment, boy…"

Reno buried his face in Sister Lisa's habit and tried to pull behind her and out of sight. "I'm sorry, Sister Mary Carmichael," he mumbled.

"It's not his fault, Sister Mary, he was sent to get me. I'm your new aide." Sister Lisa smiled brightly and ushered Reno past Sister Mary Carmichael and into the classroom. With a relieved sigh, Reno slid into a desk near the middle of the classroom and pulled a book from the basket underneath the chair. Casting a small grin at Sister Lisa, he buried his nose in his book.

"Sister Lisa…may I have a word with you?" Mary Carmichael asked.

"Of course." Lisa smiled at a few other children who lifted their heads from their books and followed the teacher to her desk in the corner. "What do you wish to talk to me about?"

"Well…I seem to notice that you're forming a bit of a bond with young Charles…I would advise against it. As sisters of this order, we cannot afford to pick favorites. The only reason Charles sticks out is because he's difficult. He creates problems in class and problems in the schoolyard. It's best to leave him be and let him get through life alone."

"Alone?"

"Yes. Children like him don't make good friends easily and thus are very clingy when they find adults who show them too much affection. He'll look to you as a maternal figure, something you can never be. He was abandoned here with a bad case of tuberculosis and we didn't hold out very high hopes for his survival. By some miracle, he's still with us, but he's a lot smaller and weaker than the other children. I think you should just leave him alone."

"Thank you for the advice, sister. I shall think on this and maybe in time I shall see things your way." Lisa smiled. "But until then, I'll keep looking at things differently."

--------------------------------------------

"Sister Lisa!" Reno exclaimed, running down the mercifully empty hallway to the young nun's cell.

"Reno, no yelling!" Sister Lisa whispered loudly as she shut the door of her room behind her.

Reno tripped on his pant legs and sprawled on the floor at Lisa's feet. "I'm ok!"

Lisa laughed and helped him to his feet, kneeling down and cuffing the hems of his jeans. "What's so urgent?"

"Nothing, just happy to see you." Reno smiled mischievously.

"Oh really? Nothing else?" Sister Lisa questioned suspiciously. "What are you doing out of bed? It's after lights-out; you'll get in trouble if you're caught…"

"Not gonna get caught."

"And why not?"

"Because I have a secret!" Reno whispered with a smile.

"Oh ho. A secret? Will you tell your dear friend, Sister Lisa the secret?"

"Maybe…or…I could show you…" Reno scampered off. "Wait in your room!"

Bemused, Lisa returned to her cell and sat down on the bed, picking up her book from where she'd left it. A few minutes passed and she heard a light tapping on the window. She looked up to see Reno grinning and waving from the ledge outside. "Reno!" She leapt up and opened the window, quickly pulling him inside.

"Hiya. Like my secret?"

"No! Reno, it's dangerous! You could fall and kill yourself!"

"Why would I do that?"

"You wouldn't mean to, you could misstep somewhere and…and…" Sister Lisa trailed off, closing her eyes as she thought of what could easily have happened.

Reno rolled his eyes. "Sis, I know enough to be very careful on ledges. I'm not as stupid as the teachers say."

"Oh, Reno…" Lisa embraced the young boy tightly. "Just don't do it again…"

"Aww…but it's the only place I can go by myself…"

"Why would you want to be by yourself?"

Reno fidgeted. "They're mean to me."

"Oh? How so?"

"Danielle called me stupid."

Lisa hugged him. "You're not stupid."

"She's mad because I said we're reading stupid books and she said 'you're stupid!' and I said I was not and she said I was too and…" Reno paused for a moment. "And then I…umm…well…she…I might have pulled one of her pigtails."

"Oh, Reno…" Lisa sighed. "You should have ignored her."

Reno bit his lip. "I also might have stapled her journal shut…"

"Reno!"

The young boy looked sheepish. "And glued all the pages of her book together."

In spite of herself, Lisa smiled. "I wish you could find a better way to release this incredible cunning of yours."

"But she started it! They _are _stupid books. They're boring and easy and they're about stupid things like stupid kids and their stupid families."

Lisa winced at the bitter resentment in her young friend's voice. "C'mere, Reno. Sit on the bed."

Sullenly, Reno obeyed and clambered onto the bed, quickly rubbing at his eyes with the back of his hand.

"Get comfy." Lisa turned and selected a slender and rather battered looking novel from the small shelf by her bed, mostly filled with prayer books. "How about I read something to you?"

"It better not be the Bible. I'm getting sick of the Bible."

"Reno! That was an awful thing to say!" Lisa scolded, sitting down beside him on the bed and showing him the cover of the book she had selected. The front depicted thirteen knights with various weapons, standing in a circle around a pulsing green sword.

"Knights of the Round?"

Lisa nodded. "The Search for the Emerald Sword. Would you like me to read it to you?"

"What's a knight?" Reno questioned, curling up next to Lisa and examining the cover.

"A knight is a warrior from a long, long time ago. They wore armor and carried huge weapons and spoke in Old English."

"O…k…these guys are knights?" Reno pointed to the knights on the cover.

"Yup…Sir Orion the Star Chaser, Sir Lotheraldan the Herald of the Dawn, Sir Lothalihan born with Dragon's Heart, Sir Jeroreric of the River Blade, Sir Etheirin the Wielder of the Elements, Sir Arado the Knight of the Winter…well…you'll see when we read. Would you like me to start?"

"Sure."

--------------------------------------------

There was a shrill buzzing of the intercom and all the children in the room looked up to see what the headmistress had to say, with the exception of Reno, who had his head down and was scribbling furiously on his desk.

"Reno!" Lisa whispered, nudging him in the ribs and pointing at the intercom. "Pay attention."

With a last, resolute scribble, Reno sighed and glanced up at the intercom with a disdainfully bored expression.

"Attention. The second grade classes will now proceed to the school auditorium for immunization. That is all."

The elderly sister who taught the class rapped her pointer sharply on her desk. "Form up, children. Sister Elisabeth, you stand at the back."

Obediently, the class scrambled to form a line in front of the doorway. Reno solicitously let everyone cut in front of him until he was at the back of the line. "Sis, what's 'munzation?"

"Immunization. It's getting a shot to keep you from getting sick," Lisa explained.

"I'm not sick," Reno protested, as the class made its way down the hallway.

"It's so you won't _get _sick. Don't worry, it'll be fine."

"All right," Reno agreed dubiously, following the rest of the children through the door. Inside were two officious looking nurses, each sitting beside a table with a chair before her.

"Pick two children and we'll do them first," one of the women instructed.

"Suzette and…Charles," Sister Mary pronounced thoughtfully.

Reno glanced around the gym and watched Suzette climb into the chair in front of one of the women. Entranced, he watched the nurse take a hypodermic syringe filled with liquid and gently clean a spot on her upper arm with a cotton ball in her other hand. Deftly, the nurse plunged the needle into Suzette's arm and injected the liquid into one of her veins.

"Charles! For the last time, come here!" Sister Mary demanded, crooking a finger at Reno.

"Go on, Reno," Lisa encouraged, gently giving Reno a push towards the nurse.

Reluctantly Reno trudged forward, clambering into the chair and grasping the bottom of the hard plastic seat tightly as he eyed the woman. She seemed inordinately cheerful for someone who was about to stab him with a small, pokey object, humming to herself as she dipped a cotton ball in rubbing alcohol.

"Is this gonna hurt?" Reno asked warily, edging away from the nurse and stretching so one of his feet touched the floor.

"Don't worry, dear," the woman assured him placidly, picking up the syringe. The metal needle glinted in the fluorescent lights of the auditorium, and the clear liquid inside refracted the view of the wall behind it when Reno looked closely.

Reno shuddered, imagining the sharp point piercing his arm…and bolted. The chair overturned and the nurse shouted something, but Reno honestly didn't care. Darting past Lisa and through the doorway, he took off down the hallway.

--------------------------------------------

"Reno!" Lisa shouted helplessly as the door crashed shut, lifting a hand to her forehead wearily.

Sister Mary fumed and smacked her pointer against her palm. "Oooh…when I catch that child, I'll give him the caning of his life! Elisabeth, stay here and manage the children."

Lisa winced, feeling sorry for her young friend. "Sister Mary…if I may, could I try and catch him? It's just I might have an easier time of it, and we wouldn't want you to aggravate your arthritis…"

The older nun looked Lisa up and down, summing her up. "All right. Make sure you thrash him good and proper."

"Yes, Sister," Lisa murmured dutifully, gingerly taking the stick from her superior and setting out down the hallway. She knew Reno well enough to be sure that he wouldn't keep running, he would hide.

"Reno?" she called, peering down two empty corridors. "Oh, Reno, where'd you get to?"

Silently, keeping her eyes open and listening for any sound that would have been out of place among the muffled chatter from within the classrooms, Lisa stole down the hallways. Finally, she caught sight of a shoelace, hanging forlornly outside the door of a closet. Gently taking the handle, she started to open the door slowly, but it suddenly flew open the rest of the way and Reno shot out, taking off down the hallway without even glancing back.

"Reno!" Lisa called after him as he vanished around the corner and up a staircase. There was a pause in the sound of running feet and a sudden crashing as Reno tumbled down the stairs and sprawled at the bottom, apparently having reversed direction too quickly at the sound of his friend's voice.

As was rather predictable, he pushed himself up and rubbed his forehead, sniffling slightly and glancing up at Lisa, looking piteous.

"Oh, Reno…" Lisa took a few steps forward and paused, watching Reno's eyes widen fearfully. Following his gaze, she remembered the stick in her right hand. Too late, her charge had already taken off, up the stairway to the dormitories and chapel. Tossing the stick aside, she lifted her habit skirt and hurried up the stairs after him.

--------------------------------------------

Reno glanced up and down the hallway frantically, a strange sort of panic enveloping him. Staring down the corridor, he caught sight of the door to the corridor that connected the orphanage and the cathedral beside it. Dashing down the hallway, he pulled at the heavy wooden door and managed to pull it open a crack. Straining against the weight, he slipped through and ran down the passage that linked the two buildings, an archway between the dormitories of the orphanage and the choir loft of the cathedral.

The large church was deserted in the middle of the week, but candles still burned brightly on the altar and the stained glass windows threw splashes of color on the white marble floor. Dust motes hung in the air, catching the light. Reno shook off his awe at seeing the interior of the cathedral from above and ran down the spiraling staircase to the main floor, taking the steps two at a time. Still a bit frantic, he glanced about the church for somewhere to hide. Nestled in the corner were several small cubicles, the confessionals. Running across the rainbow bathed floor, he tugged open one of the doors and slipped inside the tiny darkened room, sitting down on the small, padded platform where one kneeled down to confess to the priest in the next room.

With a self-pitying whimper, Reno rubbed at his eyes and tried to puzzle his way through why one of the people he trusted most in the world was coming after him with a stick. He jumped as a strange voice, speaking in a strange language floated through the screened window that obscured the view of the next cubicle and banged his head on the sill. In spite of himself, he cried out and rubbed his head furiously. The language on the other side of the wall halted. "Is someone there?" the strange voice asked.

Terrified, Reno pushed the door of the tiny confessional and ran down the aisle towards the sacristy at the front of the church. Halfway down the aisle, he tripped and tumbled to the ground, sliding across the hard marble floor. Freezing, he curled up as small as he could and waited to be caught by the strange voiced creature from the other cubicle. Someone touched his shoulder and he instinctively scrambled away, turning over and facing a young looking monk with curly brown hair and glasses.

"Hello, there," the monk said pleasantly. "And who might you be?"

Reno sniffled and didn't answer, crawling under one of the pews and hiding.

"Are you lost?" Getting down on his hands and knees, the monk looked at Reno. "What's your name?"

"I'm Reno…" Reno mumbled.

"I see…will you come out, Reno?" the monk asked, reaching out a hand to pull Reno out from under the pew.

Flinching away, Reno curled up defensively. "Please, don't make me go back! I don't wanna get a needle, that lady was gonna stick me! I don't care if I get sick! I didn't mean to, but I was scared and now Lisa's chasing me and she has a stick and I'm scared she's gonna hit me except she never hits me, but I guess I was really, really bad, but I didn't mean to and I don't like it when people chase me, especially when they're bigger than me and…and…and you scared me!"

"Whoa, slow down! Elisabeth would never hurt a fly, don't worry. What's this about a needle?"

"The lady was gonna stick me," Reno explained, shuddering.

"Are you in second grade then? From next door?"

"Uh huh…" Tentatively, Reno started to crawl out from underneath the pew.

"Reno!" Lisa called, running down the aisle.

With a frightened squeak, Reno dove back under the pew.

"Oh, Reno, I'm sorry…" Lisa knelt down and held out her hand to her friend. "I didn't mean to scare you, please forgive me…"

Reno slipped out from underneath the low bench and sniffled. "I'm sorry I ran…I just…I was scared…I don't wanna needle…"

"C'mere, Reno," Lisa instructed, holding out her arms and embracing Reno. "I know it's frightening, but you mustn't get so worked up."

"I don't wanna needle," Reno protested tearfully. "I promise I won't get sick."

"Would it help if I stayed with you? C'mon, let's go try." Lisa stood up and helped Reno to his feet.

"Ok…" Reno agreed hesitantly, following Lisa silently back to the auditorium.

Lisa paused at the door. "Umm…Reno…if Sister Mary asks if I thrashed you, say 'yes', ok?"

"Ok," Reno said promptly. "But only if I don't have to get the needle."

"Reno…please, Reno, it's for your own good."

"But I'm _scared_!" Reno protested again as Lisa started to push the door open. "I'll stop being bad! I promise!"

"Reno, you said you would try," Lisa sighed as her friend dropped to the floor and refused to get up.

"And I tried! And I only got this far and now I'm scared! Please, Lisa?" Reno pleaded, clutching at her habit skirt. "I'll do whatever the teachers say!"

Resignedly, Lisa scooped Reno up, ignoring his persistent squirming. "C'mon, Reno."

"No! _Please_, Lisa, I'm really, really scared!" Reno shouted, trying valiantly to get away as Lisa pushed the doors open. "Don't you care?"

Lisa flinched. "Reno, please…"

"You don't…please…please, please, _please_?! I_ can't_! I really can't! I'm scared!" Reno whimpered, still struggling as Lisa carried him down the aisle to the front of the auditorium where the two nurses and the elderly sister who taught the second grade class were waiting.

"I'm…sorry," Lisa murmured as the stockier of the two nurses came forward.

"No problem, sweetheart, we get cases like this all the time," the nurse piped cheerfully, mistaking Lisa's apology to have been directed at her. A tad roughly, she removed Reno from her grasp and sat down, ignoring his protesting howl and fierce struggles, letting loose now that he wasn't dealing with someone he cared about.

"Don't…don't hurt him…" Lisa cautioned worriedly, wincing as she watched Reno grow more and more panicked, kicking desperately with tears sliding down his cheeks and sobs shaking his body. He was gasping painfully for breath and he began a fresh protest when the other nurse dabbed at his arm with rubbing alcohol.

"Lisa! Lisa, help, _please_!" Reno begged, appealing desperately to his friend as the needle came into his field of vision. Lisa knelt down and put a hand on his knee to try and comfort him and abate some of his kicking.

The nurse who held him grunted and put an arm around his upper chest, effectively pinioning him to her and preventing almost all of his struggles. The second nurse came closer, putting a hand out and touching his arm gently.

Reno gave a final cry of protest and promptly fainted as the cool tip of the needle touched his skin and drove home, driving antibiotics into his veins.

"Reno!" Lisa cried softly, holding out her arms as the stocky nurse released her hold and let him slide limply off her lap and into the young nun's embrace. "Oh, Reno…"

The nurse shook her head. "The males never take it well. You'll never find a girl who's scared of a needle, but a boy will always panic or pass out. Ah well. Put him to bed."

"Reno, I'm so sorry…" Lisa murmured, cradling him close and burying her fingers in his hair.

"Take him back to his room, Elisabeth," the older nun instructed, looking a little softer in light of her pupil's sheer phobia of needles.

Mutely, Lisa nodded, getting to her feet and still not accepting that she'd betrayed the trust of someone who believed in her so fully and totally he may very well have put his life in her hands. Still holding Reno close she trudged wearily up to the dormitories and into the room designated for boys his age. At the foot of each bed was a small chest with a name written on a label on the top. She spotted Reno's immediately, his familiar scrawl boldly announcing that the bed in the corner belonged to him. Sighing, she deposited him gently on the bed and tugged off his shoes. Pulling him into a sitting position so his arms draped around her neck and his head lay against her shoulder, she drew the blankets back and tucked him in securely.

"Reno…I'm so sorry, Reno…" Lisa apologized again. Opening the chest at the end of the bed, she removed a scruffy looking dog and, lifting his elbow, nestled it securely next to him. He stirred a bit and made a slight face, green eyes opening slightly.

"Lisa…" he mumbled sleepily. "My head feels funny."

"It's…it's all right, Reno," Lisa assured him. "You just try and get some sleep. And…and I'm sorry…"

Reno yawned and nodded, closing his eyes again. "S'ok. At…at least I'm not gonna get sick now."

--------------------------------------------

"Lisa, what's a 'wench'?" Reno asked, glancing up at the young nun.

Lisa continued as though she hadn't heard. "Sir Orion whirled around, swinging his great mace and crushing the skulls of the goblins that closed in around him…"

Reno tugged her sleeve impatiently. "What's a 'wench'?"

"Hmm?"

"I _said_, 'What's a wench'?"

Lisa hesitated. "Well…umm…you see…"

"Arardo keeps calling lots of women wenches."

"Uh…" Lisa brusquely closed the book. "Well, I think that's enough for one night."

"You didn't answer my question," Reno said accusingly.

"No, I didn't," Lisa agreed. "Now head back to bed."

"I'll ask a nun," Reno threatened.

"_No_. Do _not _ask _any _of the sisters what 'wench' means. I'll tell you tomorrow, now go to bed."

"I don't wanna."

"That's too bad. You'll sleep late if you don't go."

"No, it's ok, I can stay."

Lisa sighed. "Go on, Reno. It's almost eleven thirty…"

"Umm….ok…but…gotta tell you something…know what I heard?" Reno asked, smiling.

"What?"

"I heard Sister Agnes say that there's gonna be a man and a woman coming soon and they're looking for a kid!"

"Where did you hear Sister Agnes say that?" Lisa asked suspiciously.

"Umm…would you believe I was listening outside her door?" Reno asked hopefully.

"Or outside her window…" Lisa sighed. "Reno, I asked you not to fool around on the window ledge. And eavesdropping, no less. Shame on you."

"I'm sorry, but it's faster that way," Reno defended himself. "D'you think the people coming are gonna want a kid like me?"

"I don't know. It's in God's hands. I, personally, would be a little sad to see you go."

"I'd come back and visit," Reno promised. "But…I'd have a home and a mommy and daddy…I've never had parents before…some of the other kids have, they say their parents died when they were little. I dunno what happened to my parents. I dunno if I ever even _had _parents."

"Of course you did," Lisa said gently. "I think you should go back to bed now."

"Oh….all right. See ya' later, Lisa."

--------------------------------------------

"Good morning, children!" Sister Agnes boomed out over the courtyard where the children had gathered. Behind the matriarch of the Sisters of St. Charles stood a young couple, smiling nervously. The woman was slender and pretty with reddish brown hair and glasses and the man was tall and friendly looking. "Mr. Anderson and his wife will be observing you children play today. Go about your business as usual and if they stop to ask you questions be polite and answer them! That is all."

The children dispersed and began milling about, playing and laughing. The Anderson's wove their way in and out between the children, smiling shyly from time to time. Reno stood in a corner, hanging back. Sister Lisa noticed and went to talk to him.

"What's wrong, Reno?" she asked, laying a hand on his shoulder. "Don't you want to go meet the Andersons? They seem like very nice people."

"I dunno…" Reno kicked at a small pebble on the ground and his messy red hair fell in his eyes.

"What's the matter?"

"What if…what if they don't like me? What if the sisters told them how bad I am? What if I'm too little? Maybe I'm not good enough…I'm not as smart as the other kids in my class and no one really likes me…I…I don't think I should even try."

"Reno, you'll never know unless you do."

"But…"

"What's the worst that could happen? They won't pick you and you can stay here with me and the other kids. If you don't even try, you'll never know, will you?"

"I guess not…" Reno drew himself up a bit.

"Come on, I'll take you and we can talk to them, ok?" Sister Lisa took Reno's hand and squeezed it gently, leading him over to where the Andersons were talking. "Excuse me? This is Reno." Lisa pulled him forward and he smiled shyly, still clinging tight to her habit skirt.

"Hello, Reno," Mrs. Anderson knelt down and smiled, holding out her hand.

"Hi…" Reno smiled back, taking the woman's hand and shaking it.

"How old are you?" she asked kindly.

"I'm seven. I'm in grade two and we just learned the multiplication tables up to ten and it was sorta hard but then I understood it and it wasn't hard anymore because I figured out all I had to do was memorize 'em and then it was easy. I don't think I got it as soon as everybody else, but I tried really hard and Sister Lisa helped me. I think Sister Lisa is too pretty to be a nun, but you're pretty too. What's your job? I don't think you are a nun, but maybe you are. Sister Lisa's reading me 'Knights of the Round' and I really like it. We're reading 'The Midgar Kids' Detective Club' in English class, but I liked the 'Knights of the Round' books better. Lisa read me 'The Search for the Emerald Sword' and we just started 'The Tournament of the Topaz Javelin'." Reno's eyes shone when he talked and Mrs. Anderson smiled warmly.

"That's lovely, dear." She stood up again and laid a hand on his shoulder. "It was very nice talking to you. I hope I get to do so again soon."

"Are you gonna pick me?" Reno asked hopefully.

Mrs. Anderson smiled warmly and patted Reno's head. "We'll see, dear."

As the woman left, Reno turned to Lisa. "D'you think she liked me?" he demanded apprehensively.

"Of course she liked you. How couldn't she like you?"

"I dunno…when do you think they're going to pick?"

"I'm not sure Reno, these things take time."

--------------------------------------------

Lisa heard muffled crying before the knock on her door. With a sigh she stood up and opened the door, holding out her arms. Reno tumbled into her embrace, crying hard. Lisa scooped him up and sat on her bed, hugging him tight and gently running her hand up and down his back. "Shh…shh, Reno, it's ok…" Slowly he started to wear himself down to the point where all he could manage were hiccupping sobs. "They didn't pick you?" Lisa asked gently.

Reno shuddered and shook his head. "I….th-thought she liked me…she was so nice…"

Lisa hugged him tighter. "It's ok, hey, now you can stay with me!"

"B-but I w-wanted to go with them…I…I wanted parents…" Reno pulled out of her embrace for a second. "D-did you tell them I was bad? Did you say I wouldn't be good because you wanted me to stay here?" he demanded.

Lisa met his accusing green eyes sadly. "No, Reno, I didn't," she said softly. "If you go I'll miss you very much, but I want you to be happy. I'm sorry…"

Reno sniffled a little. "I almost hoped you _had_ told them not to take me…then…then maybe it wouldn't hurt so bad. If you didn't tell them, it means they didn't need a reason not to like me…" Reno hiccupped and started crying again, laying his head on Lisa's shoulder. "No one's ever gonna love me…"

"Oh, Reno…" Lisa felt hot tears in her own eyes and pressed her cheek against his flaming red hair.

"It's true…my real mother didn't love me, so she left me here. None of the nuns even _like _me, and…and the Andersons didn't either. They probably picked one of the kids who had a mother…they talk about how they remember her and how they used to play together and…it's not fair…I don't even remember my mother…"

Lisa sighed sadly, wishing she could comfort him with more than words. "Shh…it's all right…"

Reno pushed her away as she tightened her embrace and dug in his pocket for the matchbook. "My…my mommy left this with me…when I was little, so people would know my name…she left it because she didn't want them to give me another name, because she was gonna come back…but she didn't come back…she never came…" Reno angrily wiped away a tear that slipped down his cheek and splashed on the matchbook, smudging the ink slightly.

"Reno…" Lisa whispered softly, realizing she was hearing the story her pupil had probably been telling himself for years.

"She…she didn't come, even though I waited, I even…once…I tried the number. It was really, really late and everyone was in bed, so I went to Sister Agnes' office…and I tried…but…but there was no one there. And I tried again and again and she still didn't answer…and I don't remember anything after that…except I kept trying and she never answered…"

Lisa managed to stifle a sob as she held Reno closely. "Oh…Reno…"

"What did I do wrong? The sisters told me I was sick when I was a baby…is that why she didn't love me? Because I was sick…didn't I get a needle to make me not sick? Maybe I was too scared and she couldn't make me and…and…she didn't want a sick baby and I wasn't good enough…"

"No…Reno, no…it wasn't your fault…" Lisa whispered, cradling Reno tightly as he started crying again, not with the same hysterical intensity as before, but a sort of defeated sadness that somehow held a greater magnitude.

--------------------------------------------

"Good morning, Mr. Anderson, Mrs. Anderson," Sister Agnes greeted the couple politely as they entered her office. "Have you made your decision?"

"Yes, we have. And just call me Julia." Mrs. Anderson squeezed her husband's hand tightly. "We met a little boy yesterday and he seemed perfect."

"Very good…what was the lad's name?"

"He said his name was Reno," Mr. Anderson supplied. "And call me Richard."

"Reno?" the nun's smile faded a little. "I'm afraid I don't know any Reno…"

"Excuse me, Sister, but did you say Reno?" Sister Lisa asked excitedly from outside the half open door. "I couldn't help but overhear…"

"What's all this, child?" Agnes asked, flustered.

"Oh, Sister Agnes, this was the nun who introduced us!" Mrs. Anderson exclaimed.

"Who's she talking about, Sister Elisabeth?"

"She means Charles! Oh, may I take you to him now? Poor thing was up half the night sobbing because he didn't think you'd picked him…" Lisa took hold of Mrs. Anderson's hand.

"Oh, the poor dear…" Mrs. Anderson murmured.

"He's upstairs in my cell, come see him." Lisa led the way through the hallways joyfully.

"Sister Elisabeth, you do not have permission to have one of the children in your cell!" Sister Agnes declared, bringing up the rear as she followed the Anderson's and Sister Lisa up the stairs and down a quiet corridor.

The younger nun held a finger to her lips and gently pushed open the door. "Reno?" she called softly, peeking inside. He was still curled up on the bed, fast asleep.

"Oh…" Mrs. Anderson sighed happily.

"Wore himself out last night," Lisa explained, sitting down on the bed. "Reno?"

"Go 'way…"

"Reno, wake up, I've got a surprise for you."

"Leave me alone…" Reno pulled the covers over his head and burrowed towards the center of the bed.

Lisa smiled. "Fine then. I guess your family will have to find another little red haired seven year old that knows his multiplication tables and likes the Knights of the Round books."

Reno sat bolt upright in bed still, tangled in the blanket. He pulled the brown wool covering off his head and stared wide eyed at the smiling faces of Mr. and Mrs. Anderson. With a yell he scrambled out of bed and into the warm embrace of his new mother. "Are you really gonna adopt me?"

"Of course! We're sorry we couldn't take you last night, but there was paperwork we needed to straighten out." Mrs. Anderson hugged Reno tightly

"Can I go with you today? Please?" Reno begged, green eyes alight.

"Yes, certainly. We were just coming by to pick you up and take care of some business," Mr. Anderson said, ruffling Reno's hair fondly. "You gonna start calling me 'Dad'?"

"Can I?" Reno sounded almost disbelieving. "Can I really?"

"Sure, son."

"And can I call you 'Mom'?" he asked, turning back to Mrs. Anderson.

"Of course…" Lisa saw Julia blink back tears as she hugged Reno tightly again.

"Mom and Dad…are we a family? Is my last name Anderson now? I've never had a last name…Are you still gonna call me Reno? I know the nuns call me Charles, but I like Reno better. You didn't adopt 'Charles' you adopted Reno. D'you wanna come with me and get my stuff? Do I get my own room? Where do you guys live? Is there a school close by? Can I come back and visit sometimes?"

"Yes, yes, yes to all of the above," Julia laughed happily, scooping Reno up and carrying him down stairs. "We live in a house in Pinewood in Sector Five."

"I've never been outside Sector Six…what's it like? Is it really different? Are there lots of kids? Will they like me?" Reno chattered on and Julia answered his questions happily.

"Oh she'll be a wonderful mother…" Lisa sighed. "I _am_ going to miss Reno though."

"We'll bring him back to visit," Richard promised. "Just let us get settled in a bit before overwhelming him."

Sister Lisa hurried after Reno to the dormitories where he was packing his meager few belongings into a small backpack. Clothes, several marbles, one or two pebbles, three pieces of chalk, an elastic band, a battered looking picture book, and a rather scruffy stuffed dog made their way from the chest at the foot of his bed into the bag.

"Is that everything, Reno?" Julia asked, taking the backpack from his hands.

"Umm…" Reno clutched something tight in one hand.

"What's the matter?" Lisa asked.

Without warning, Reno hurled himself into her arms. "I'm gonna miss you…"

"Oh, Reno, I'll miss you too…" Lisa answered softly.

"Are you gonna forget about me?"

"Never, Reno."

"Well…just to make sure you don't…" Reno pressed a small object into her hand.

Lisa unfolded her fingers, looking at the dog-eared matchbook fondly. "I'll never forget about you, Reno, you're very special…"

With a slightly strangled sob, he hugged her again. "Thank you…without you, I'd never have gotten parents…"

--------------------------------------------

"Bye sisters! Bye Lisa! Bye everybody!" Reno waved out the window of the Anderson's small car as they pulled away from the orphanage. He settled comfortably in the backseat of the car and smiled happily. He chattered away until the car pulled up in front of a medium sized house. Speechless, he stared up at the two-story building with wide eyes. "You _live_ here?"

"Of course. Now you live here too." Julia laid a hand on Reno's shoulder as he climbed out of the car.

Reno grinned and followed his mother up the front stairs while Richard grabbed his small backpack and followed his wife as she gave Reno a tour of the house.

"This is the kitchen…" Julia held open the door of a kitchen with oak cabinets and a table in the center with a bouquet of flowers on the checkered tablecloth.

"Wow," Reno managed to mumble, staring at the huge kitchen.

"Through there is the dining room." Julia pointed to an archway leading to a bright, sunny room with another table, a chest of fine china, and a sideboard.

Reno nodded dumbly, still trying to take in the kitchen. He followed Julia as she led him through the dining room and into a comfortable looking sitting room. There were a matched sofa and loveseat as well as comfy armchairs and a big screen TV in one corner. "Holy cow!" Reno gasped, then clamped his hands over his mouth and looked up at Julia apologetically. "I'm sorry."

"For what, dear?" Julia asked, smiling.

"The sisters get mad when I say that."

"I don't mind."

"It's just you've got a very nice house."

"I'm glad you think so."

Reno smiled as Julia indicated another chamber off the living room. "What's that?"

"That's Rich…your dad's office, or the den. Come on in, I'll show you." Julia opened the door to a room with a desk and several bookcases, stuffed with books. There were also two chairs beside a full-length window looking out over the park, placed conveniently across the street from the Andersons.

Reno wandered over to one of the bookshelves and scanned it quickly. Triumphantly he found what he was looking for and pulled out a slim volume. "You like 'Knights of the Round' too, Dad?"

Richard smiled. "My favorite. I'll read one to you tonight."

"Really? Promise?"

"Sure."

"Yeah!" Reno cheered. He carefully replaced the book and took Julia's hand again. "Can I see my room now?"

"I was just going to suggest the same thing," Julia smiled. "It's upstairs."

"Upstairs? Cool, do I get a window?"

"Of course."

"My own window? There only used to be two in the dormitories and I was in a bed in the corner by the door so I could never see outside of it. I had trouble sleeping because a lot of the kids talk at night even though it was after lights-out. What time is lights-out here? It was eight at St. Charles'. I think that's where I got my name, y'know? I don't think I had a name when I came to the orphanage. I think the sisters named me _after_ the orphanage."

"Well, your name is Reno now. And this is Reno's room." Julia opened yet another door to a small bedroom with blue wallpaper, a window with a window seat in the corner, as well as a closet, bed, dresser, and all the other things you would expect to find in a seven year old boy's bedroom.

"Wow!" Reno climbed on the bed and flopped down. "This…this is great!"

Julia laughed and swept the little boy into a bear hug. "I'm so happy you like it. Tomorrow, we'll go shopping and get you some clothes and toys. How's that sound?"

"Wow…" Reno sat down on the bed and tried to take in what was happening. "This is fast…"

"It must be a little overwhelming for you, huh?" Richard said sympathetically, laying a hand on Reno's shoulder. "How about we go down to the park and play a bit? There's a big structure and swings and a sandbox and all sorts of stuff."

"Can we? Yeah! Let's go!" Reno hopped off the bed and scampered to the doorway, Julia scooped him up before he got there and held him at arm's length.

"Oh, no you don't. Not until you have a sweater. I don't want you getting a cold."

"Aww, Mom…" Reno protested.

"Don't you 'Aww, Mom' me, young man." Julia set him on the floor and pulled a hooded sweatshirt out from his backpack. "Arms up."

Reno obeyed and Julia slipped the sweatshirt on over his t-shirt. "Ok, now can we go?"

"By all means." Richard held out his hand and Reno took it, clasping Julia's fingers with the other. The small family headed down the stairs and out the front door, Richard pausing to lock it behind them.

"Look both ways before crossing the street," Julia cautioned.

Reno quickly glanced left and right then tugged his parents' hands. "All clear! Let's go!"

"All right, all right, someone sure is eager, huh?" Julia teased.

"I'm sorry, it's just this is the first time I've ever been anywhere with a family and I'm excited."

Julia laughed and jogged to keep up with Reno who'd run ahead up the path that wound its way to the top of the hill.

"Wow!" Reno gazed at the huge play structure with wide-eyed awe then turned around and grinned at his parents, waving. "Hey, hurry up!"

"Reno, honey, the park isn't going anywhere."

"I know that! But the sooner we get there the more time we can stay!" On a sudden inspiration, Reno lay down and rolled down the hill, laughing.

"Energetic, isn't he?" Richard remarked as he and Julia crested the hill and watched Reno scramble to his feet dizzily and make for the slide at a bit of a skewed angle.

"I think he's cute. He took to calling us 'Mom' and 'Dad' right off, didn't he?" Julia smiled fondly and waved as Reno clambered to the top of the slide.

"Mommy! Watch me!" he yelled, waving.

"I'm watching sweetheart!" Julia called back.

Reno shot down the slide at top speed, landing at the bottom with a thud. Still laughing, he got up and ran back towards the ladder, crashing headlong into another little boy with an impact that sent them both sprawling. "Ouch!"

"Ow!" the other boy yelped. He had dusty blond hair and a sprinkling of freckles across his nose. A pair of sparkling blue eyes shone from underneath the dusty mop and he grinned up at Reno.

"I'm sorry," Reno apologized, getting to his feet.

"S'ok," the other boy shrugged. "My name's Howie."

"I'm Reno."

"Wanna play?"

"Yeah! What're we gonna play?"

"D'you like pirates?"

Reno shook his head. "Dunno. Never played pirates. D'you like knights?"

"Yeah! Hey, ever heard of 'Knights of the Round'?"

"Uh huh!" Reno nodded vigorously. "Wanna play 'Emerald Sword'?"

"Sure! Can I be Arardo?"

"Ok, can I be Lotheraldan?"

"Yeah," Howie agreed. "Now, our guild is going to be over there on the jungle gym and we're going to be fighting the evil Liche queen…"

"Come, Sir Arardo!" Reno jumped on an imaginary Chocobo and galloped towards the wooden climbing structure.

"Right behind you, Loter…I mean, Sir Loter…Loathar…Lotter…hey, could you be Orion instead?" Howie ran along behind his new friend.

"It seems my Howie has roped in a new playmate," a motherly looking woman chuckled, coming up behind the Andersons. "I'm Geraldine North, but you can call me Geri."

"Pleased to meet you," Julia smiled and shook the woman's hand. "I'm Julia Anderson and this is my husband Rich."

"I don't see you around the park much, are you new to the neighborhood?" Geri asked.

"No, we've lived here a few years, actually, we just adopted our little boy today. His name is Reno." Julia looked out over the park to where Howie and Reno were dueling with a pair of sticks.

"Oh, how sweet! How old is he?"

"Seven," Julia answered proudly.

"Same as my Howie. Is he starting school this fall? I do hope they'll be in the same class, they look to be getting on splendidly."

"I hope so too. We've got a lot of family stuff to catch up on," Rich answered, putting an arm around Julia's shoulders. "He's not used to being a son and we're not used to being parents so we'll need a bit of time to adjust."

"Oh good. Well, if you ever need a break, send him down to my place and he can play with Howie."

"Sure."

The Andersons chatted amicably with Mrs. North until the sun started to sink over the pine trees that fringed the park.

"Howie!" Geri bellowed. "C'mon kiddo, time to go home!"

"Five more minutes!" Howie yelled back.

"You too Reno!" Julia called.

"Aww…ten more minutes!" Reno pleaded.

"You can play with Howie tomorrow!"

"Ok…" Reno reluctantly tossed his stick aside and ran up the slope.

"C'mere, Reno, hop on." Rich knelt down and Reno climbed onto his back.

"Yeah! Hi ho Dire-Blood! Away!"

"It was nice meeting you, Geri!" Julia called, following her husband as he galloped down the slope.

"You too dear!" Geri called back, wiping some of the dust off Howie's face with the hem of her shirt.

When Julia caught up to her family in front of the house they were talking animatedly about knights, castles, and dragons.

"It's Sir Reno's bedtime," Julia teased, fondly ruffling the little boy's hair.

"Already?"

"It's almost nine."

"Wow. The sister's make me go to bed at eight. Are you gonna read me a story, Dad?"

"Sure. Were you done the 'Topaz Javelin' yet?"

"Nope. D'you have that one?"

"I have _all_ of them."

"Really? Wow, can we read it?"

"Of course."

"Go on upstairs and get into your pajamas, Reno," Julia directed.

"Ok, then will Dad read me a story?"

"After you're changed you can come down and have cookies and hot chocolate."

"At the same time?" Reno asked incredulously.

Julia smiled. "Uh huh."

"Wow." Reno scurried up the stairs and returned a few minutes later, wearing a pair of blue pajamas. "Ok, all ready!"

--------------------------------------------

Julia smiled as Rich softly closed the book and handed it to her to replace on the shelf. Reno had fallen asleep, halfway through chapter eight, just before the climax. Richard stood up slowly, lifting the little boy with no visible effort.

"Shh…don't walk fast, you'll wake him," Julia cautioned, walking ahead of her husband and up the stairs to her son's room. She turned down the blankets and sat on the bed, plumping the pillows idly.

Richard entered and gently deposited Reno in the bed, pulling the covers up around his shoulders. "Little guy's exhausted."

"I'm not surprised. He's had a big day." Julia lightly kissed his forehead and tucked the blanket around him securely. "Night, Reno…"

Richard grinned and embraced his wife. "Finally a family."

"At long last." Julia flicked the light off and half closed the door as she left the room with her husband, leaving the light in the hallway on.

--------------------------------------------

"Reno?"

"Mmph." Reno felt someone prodding his back with a finger. "Go 'way sister, it's not morning yet…"

The person chuckled. "It's not a sister, Reno. It's your mother."

Reno sat up and smiled at Julia. "Good morning, Mommy."

"Good morning, Reno." Julia planted a kiss on Reno's forehead. "I thought you'd like to get up and watch the 'Knights of the Round' cartoon show with your father."

"There's a show? Can I watch? Is it on now?"

"Yes, yes, yes," Julia answered laughingly. "You can watch and I'll make breakfast, ok?"

"Yeah!" Reno scrambled out of bed and down the stairs, vaulting onto the couch beside his father. "Morning Dad!"

"Morning Reno," Rich ruffled his son's already sleep tousled hair. "Ever seen the cartoon before?"

Reno shook his head, watching the screen intently.

"It's on every morning at eight."

"Wow…"

Julia bustled about the kitchen preparing bacon, eggs, and toast. She hummed to herself above the sounds of clashing swords and oaths of revenge. As she set the last plate on the table, the ending theme music rolled was cut short as Richard flicked the TV off. Moments later, Reno darted into the kitchen and climbed onto a chair. "Yummy."

Julia smiled proudly and poured her husband a cup of coffee. "Are you ready to come shopping today, Reno?"

Reno nodded as he bit into a slice of white toast. "Grmph."

"Don't talk with your mouth full, dear."

Reno swallowed. "Sorry. I meant, sounds great."

"Oh good. We've got to get you school supplies and such."

Reno smiled and started chattering about what Howie had told him about going to school.

--------------------------------------------

Reno stared up at the huge shopping mall in downtown Midgar with poorly concealed awe. "Wow."

"Have you ever been shopping, before, Reno?" Julia asked, taking her son's hand as he climbed out of the car.

"Nuh uh. Sisters don't go shopping," Reno explained, following his mother into the large department store.

"Is that so?"

"Well, I've never seen 'em go shopping. But maybe they do," Reno conceded, looking around the store interestedly. "Where do we go now?"

"First school supplies. Then Kids' wear and then to the food court for lunch. After that, we'll go grocery shopping and look around the toy store, ok?" Julia proposed, taking a cart and picking Reno up, depositing him inside.

"Ok." Reno made a concerted effort to get comfortable, sitting back and bumping his head on the fold out basket at the front of the cart, where mothers generally put their smaller children while they shop. Rubbing his head ruefully, he pushed it back and wove his fingers through the wire, watching people pass disinterestedly. "Mommy?"

"Yes, Reno?" Julia asked, turning the cart into the stationary aisle and pulling out the list she'd gotten from the school.

"Am I supposed to be in school today?"

"Not for a good two months, Reno." Julia selected a nice looking blue binder and dropped it next to Reno.

Reno looked slightly incredulous. "Two whole months? No school at all?"

"None whatsoever."

"Why not?"

"Because it's summer holidays," Julia explained, depositing a box of crayons in the cart. Reno promptly picked it up and started examining it.

"Oh. What do I do if I'm not in school?" Reno questioned.

"Whatever you want. You can play at the park with Howie and the other boys in the neighborhood."

"Every day?" Reno seemed to be having trouble grasping the concept. "There's no school at all?"

"None. Actually, your father and I have a surprise planned for this summer," Julia smiled secretively.

"What's the surprise?" Reno asked, taking the box of pencils and erasers his mother handed him and arranging it neatly in a pile with his ever-growing pile of school supplies.

"I can't tell you, sweetheart, or else it won't be a surprise." Julia selected a bottle of glue and handed it to Reno.

"Can I guess?"

"You can try," Julia said encouragingly.

"Umm…" Reno frowned to himself. "Is it big?"

"Maybe," Julia answered slyly.

"Is it a toy?"

"Maybe."

"Can I ride it?" Reno guessed.

"Maybe…"

Reno continued his questioning for another five minutes until he finally folded his arms and glared up at his mother. "Are you gonna say anything besides 'maybe'?"

Julia smiled and ruffled her son's hair. "Maybe."

"Mo-om!" Reno attempted to shift around in the pile of supplies. Finding himself rather stuck, he attempted to push aside a stack of binders, only to have an avalanche of notebook paper fall on his lap and bury him up to his waist. "I'm stuck."

"It certainly seems like it," Julia agreed, lifting Reno out of the cart and placing him on the ground. "Better?"

"Yup. Thank you," Reno answered politely, holding onto the edge of the cart as his mother steered towards the children's clothing section. "Clothes now?"

"Uh huh." Julia selected a pair of jeans and handed them to Reno, who obediently started to trot off towards the fitting rooms. "Hold it, mister," Julia said firmly, catching Reno's shoulder and turning him around, depositing a heap of clothes in his arms. "All right, now you can go."

Staggering a bit under the substantive pile and wondering how his mother could possibly have selected so many articles of clothing in so short a time, Reno meandered over towards the fitting room. Under the watchfully appraising eyes of his mother and a young saleslady who gushed over absolutely everything he tried on, he spent an hour sorting through several large piles of clothing and leaving with about half of each pile. Julia had quite confidently selected play clothes, school clothes, dress clothes, swimwear, clothes for summer, clothes for winter, and a miniaturized tuxedo that she proclaimed he looked absolutely adorable in.

"Mommy?" he questioned wearily, exiting the dressing room, happy to be back in his own baggy jeans and white t-shirt. "How many clothes do I need?"

Julia smiled fondly and bent down to hug her son. "I think this is enough. We'll go through the checkout, drop this stuff off in the car, then come back to the food court for lunch, all right?"

"Good. Very good," Reno agreed, relieved. Experimentally, he stepped on the end of the cart and held onto the front, leaning forward as his mother headed towards the checkout counter. "Mommy?"

"Yes, Reno?" Julia started unloading the contents of her cart onto the conveyor belt, unearthing long forgotten school supplies.

"What's for lunch?"

"What would you like?" Julia countered as the clerk at the end of the checkout aisle started reloading bags into the cart.

"Umm…" Reno frowned and shook his head. "I dunno."

"We'll decide when we get there, ok?"

"All right." Reno busied himself re-examining the contents of the shopping cart as his mother paid the cashier.

"Would you like me to take this out to the parking lot for you, ma'am?" the boy at the end of the aisle asked as he finished loading the bags.

"That would be lovely, thank you," Julia acknowledged, taking her son's hand. "Come on, Reno."

Reno trailed along behind, scuffing his shoes as Julia pointed the clerk towards her small sports car and directed him to start loading things into the spacious trunk. "Mommy?"

"Yes, dear?" Julia asked, handing the clerk ten Gil and turning to her son.

"Thank you."

Julia smiled and hugged Reno. "Your welcome, Reno. Believe me, I had a lot of fun. Now, let's go have lunch, hmm?"

"Ok," Reno agreed, smiling broadly at his mother. The pair wove their way through the crowd and to the food court, which was bustling with the lunchtime rush. "Busy," Reno commented, staying close to Julia.

"Yes, very much so. What would you like to eat, Reno?"

"Dunno. What is there?" Reno asked, slightly overwhelmed by the myriad of food that the many restaurants in the food court provided.

Julia went through a long list of the different types of food, drink, and desert that the food court offered. "So what would you like?"

"Umm…you choose," Reno said sheepishly. "I have no idea."

"I'll get you something good," Julia promised, fondly ruffling her son's hair. "Come sit down and I'll get in line, ok?"

"Mmm…'k." Reno sat down at a table for two in the corner of one of the restaurants and dangled his legs off the end of the chair while he watched his mother get in line. For five or so minutes he pondered the events of his day, looking forward to getting to the toy store and hoping they didn't spend too much time shopping for groceries.

Julia came back to the table and set a tray down, laden with one large salad and a small grilled cheese sandwich, a large drink and a small drink, and a large chocolate sundae and a small chocolate sundae. "Here you are, dear." Smiling, she set the sandwich in front of her son.

"Thanks," Reno answered politely, biting into his sandwich and chewing thoughtfully. Idly, he licked his fingers and picked up his drinking, sucking noisily on the plastic straw.

"Don't slurp your milk, sweetheart," Julia chided gently, spearing one of the tomatoes in her salad and popping it into her mouth daintily. "And don't take such big bites of your sandwich."

"Sorry, Mom," Reno apologized quickly, taking care to sip his milk quietly and taking smaller bites. Finishing his sandwich, he eyed the smaller sundae hungrily, licking his lips and wiping his fingers on his pant legs. Julia noticed and smiled, picking up the larger sundae and setting it in front of Reno.

"Wow! Thanks!" Exuberantly, Reno dug into the large mound of ice cream while his mother finished her salad and started into her small bowl of icecream.

Julia thoughtfully examined the plastic spoon she held in her hand, looking past it and instead observing Reno. She smiled as she noticed he had somehow managed to get chocolate syrup on the tip of his nose and his fingers were sugarcoated and sticky. "Reno, sweetheart, you're making a dreadful mess."

Reno looked slightly ashamed and licked his fingers remorsefully. "Sorry, Mom," Reno apologized. "Good ice cream, though," he added matter-of-factly.

Julia laughed and wiped his face and fingers with a napkin, placidly ignoring his instinctive squirming. "Reno, you're a sticky little monster."

"Gwrarr," Reno growled, grinning and clenching his hands menacingly to look like claws. "Scared of me?"

"Positively terrified that you'll get my clothes all sticky," Julia answered laughingly, scooping Reno up and hugging him. "Let's go to the grocery store, ok?"

"Yup," Reno answered as his mother set him on the ground and took his hand. "Which way?"

Julia tugged him along towards the supermarket at the other end of the mall, listening to his chattering questions and answering them as best she could.

--------------------------------------------

"The fifteenth, Marilyn? Sounds great…and you can all meet Reno…uh huh…of course…yup…all righty, hon. I'll talk to you later…love you too, bye." Julia hung up the phone and sat down at the table across from Reno, who was diligently coloring a picture of a yet another knight in a coloring book.

"Who was that?" Reno questioned, scribbling messily and shading the knight's sword a vivid red.

"That was my sister Marilyn…your aunt Mary, I guess. She phoned about the family picnic this weekend."

"Picnic? Where?"

"At the park across the street, it was on the other side of Midgar last year."

"Who's going to be there?" Reno asked, making a bunch of red lines across the body of the monster his knight was attacking. Frowning for a moment, he selected a green crayon and added some lime green to the blood.

"Almost all of my family. Marilyn and Herb with their kids, Lucille and Rob, their kids, Yvette and Manuel and their kids, Glenn and Melissa with their son…I think that's it."

"My family?"

Julia smiled. "Yes. Your family too."

Reno grinned to himself. "Are there kids like me too?"

"Well…none that are really your age…the closest is probably Abby and she's ten. Hmm…Allison is fifteen, Marcus is twenty, Arty is eleven, there's the twins Christian and Cheryl, but their both almost twenty-two, of course, Melissa's new baby, Zack…and…Paul…"

"How old is Paul?" Reno asked.

"He's…probably twenty four now…he lives down in Costa del Sol."

"Where's that?"

"It's down by the coast, a resort town. Very beachy."

Reno nodded and scrawled his name in the upper corner of his paper. "All done. On the fridge?"

"As usual." Julia smiled and glanced over at the refrigerator, plastered with pictures of knights, various weapons, and Chocobos.

Obediently, Reno slid off his chair and tried to find a place to stick his picture. The bottom half of the fridge was almost completely covered but the top half, above Reno's reach, remained almost bare. "Mommy, there's no room…"

"We'll put it on top, ok sweetheart?" Julia selected a magnet and affixed the picture to the freezer door. "Very nice picture."

"It's Lotheraldan again."

"He's your favorite, right?"

"Yup. Can I go play outside?"

"Sure. I'll call you for supper."

--------------------------------------------

"Ready to go, Reno?" Julia called up the stairs, adjusting her visor and her hold on the picnic basket she'd packed. It was almost four in the afternoon and the picnic was due to start in five minutes.

"Almost!" There was a low rumbling as Reno ran down the stairs like a small, red-headed avalanche. He wore shorts and a t-shirt and had finally selected a handful of knights to bring to the park. "Ready!"

Julia ruffled his hair fondly. "Good. Now, go climb in the wagon and we'll get going."

"Mmmm…'k." Reno scampered out the door and climbed into the large wooden wagon, beside a blanket and a small cooler, trying to get comfortable.

"Hey, squirt. All ready to go?" Rich asked, depositing a thermos next to Reno and grabbing the handle of the wagon. "Any idea when you're mother will be out?"

"Nope." Reno absently started arranging his knights according to their height.

"I'm right here, Rich, let's go." Julia came out and dropped a pile of sweaters on top of her son. "Because it'll get cold later," she explained, ruffling Reno's hair again.

Reno nodded absently, fidgeting a bit as the wagon started rolling with a jolt. Julia and Rich were talking cheerfully about the last family picnic, when he interrupted. "Mommy? Are they gonna like me? I mean…I'm…I'm not your real kid…is that ok? I know you guys love me lots, but what're _they_ gonna think?"

Julia smiled gently. "Reno, I can't imagine anyone not loving you to pieces. You're _my_ little boy, no matter what your birth certificate says."

"All right…" Reno agreed hesitantly, grabbing the sides of the wagon as they crested the small hill. "Are you sure?"

"Positive." Julia glanced over to the group of picnic tables in the shade of a small thicket of trees. There were several blankets laid out and two men were arguing in loud voices about how to set up the barbecue.

"Gonna walk the rest of the way," Reno announced, climbing out of the wagon and clasping his mother's hand.

Protectively, Julia slipped her hand around his shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly. "Don't worry, Reno."

"Not worried," Reno declared, nervously eyeing the two shouting men. "Not really worried. Just a little worried. But not much."

"Ok, Reno." Julia waved to one of the women, the stouter one, who was bustling about the picnic table, chatting eagerly with a younger woman who was rocking a baby. "Marilyn! Melissa!"

"Julia!" The larger of the two women cried delightedly, waving ecstatically. Setting a bowl of jellied salad down, she bustled over and embraced Julia tightly, kissing her noisily on the cheek, not even noticing Reno. "Hello, darling! Oh, you look lovely!"

Julia laughed and warmly returned the embrace. "Mary, this is Reno." She gave Reno an encouraging nudge. "Say hi to your Aunt Mary, Reno."

"Hi," Reno managed, shyly smiling at the large woman. She wore a brightly patterned flowered dress and a white blouse underneath. "Y'know, if you dressed different, I think you could be a nun," he blurted, remembering a particularly rotund and cheerful sister.

Marilyn chortled delightedly and scooped Reno up, and planted a wet kiss on his cheek. "Oooh! Julia, he's darling! Herb'll love him! Herby!"

Reno was a little startled that the woman had taken to him so quickly, but she seemed like a nice enough lady. Exuberant perhaps, but certainly nice enough. He grew slightly apprehensive as she approached the two arguing men, a spring in her step that belied her rather plump figure. "Herby! Look at Julia's little boy! He's simply the sweetest thing I've ever laid eyes on!"

A gruff looking man with a bushy mustache and twinkling eyes squatted down to Reno's height as Marilyn set him down and eyed Reno. "You know how to work a barbecue, squirt? _This _moron," he indicated the taller, slender man beside him, "says we need propane to start it. I say good old gasoline will do the trick. Whaddaya think?"

"Umm…" Reno glanced at the large gas barbecue that one of the family had apparently brought along. "Well…why don't you just use that one?" Reno pointed to a simple brick barbecue near one of the picnic tables. "It works good, me…me 'n my family use it when we have picnics…"

The gruff man looked at him with a glint in his eye for a few seconds, then guffawed loudly and clapped a hand on Reno's shoulder, nearly buckling his knees. "The boy's right! Here y' go, Junior!" Seemingly out of nowhere, the man pulled out twenty Gil and pressed into Reno's palm. "Job well done."

At the last second, Reno remembered his manners. "Thank you, sir."

The man laughed again. "Uncle Herb, boyo."

"Herb, I believe you're intimidating the poor lad," the taller man reprimanded in a quieter, milder voice. He smiled at Reno. "Don't mind him. I believe I'm your Uncle Manuel. Have you told us your name?"

"I'm Reno," Reno answered, sticking the money in his pocket and smiling shyly.

"A pleasure, Reno."

"Herb! Manny!" Marilyn beckoned. "Bring Reno over here!"

"C'mon squirt." Herb plucked Reno off the ground and boosted him onto his shoulders. "Might as well meet the rest of the clan all at once."

"Ok," Reno agreed, still a little dazed from the three rapid-fire introductions. Herb set him down on the top of a picnic table beside his mother and he climbed into her lap. There were a number of people sitting around, mostly in there late teens, twenties, or middle-aged, but there were two younger children and a baby in one woman's arms.

Marilyn clapped her hands brusquely. "Everybody, listen up. I'm only saying this once! This is Reno. Julia and Rich's little boy. He's family and you'll all treat him like that, got it?"

There was a general murmur of laughter through the assembled family and a tall, lanky young man stepped out of the crowd. He wore sunglasses, a brightly patterned shirt, swim trunks, and a backwards baseball cap with a tuft of blonde hair poking out from underneath. There was a pair of headphones around his neck, blasting music, though he seemed oblivious to it and a shark tooth necklace against his bare chest. He looked at Reno for a few moments and then grinned. "I dub thee Small Dude. I am Paul Dude, thy god. Fear me."

A tall girl of about twenty with blonde hair rolled her eyes and smacked Paul in the head with a frisbee, noticing Reno's slightly bewildered expression. "Shut up, Paul. Leave the little guy alone." The girl smiled and waved slightly. "I'm Cheryl. Ignore Paul."

A bit hesitantly, Reno nodded and smiled. "You people are all lots bigger than me. Taller, I mean. Izzat just 'cause you're older?"

Another girl laughed, this one with bright red hair and vibrantly green lipstick. "Naw, we're all tall. It's a family thing."

"Oh." Reno looked a little abashed and scuffed his feet.

For the third time in a row, a blond young man scooped Reno up and set him on his shoulders. "No worries, Reno. Here, some honorary height."

"Christian, put him down!" a woman with dark hair and glasses scolded. "Honestly… Reno, honey, I'm your Aunty Yvette. Chris and Cherry are my twins and if they get on your nerves at all, let me know, all right sugar?"

"Ok," Reno agreed promptly as Christian set him back down on the ground. "I don't mind though. I'm kinda short. That's ok."

The youngest of the cousins, a bossy looking ten year old with her crimped blond hair in pigtails and a small furry purse hanging off her shoulder stepped forward and started pointing to people. "That's Ally," she pointed to the redhead, "that's Mark," she indicated a tall young man with his nose in a book, "the twins are Chris and Cherry," she paused and looked down at Reno. "And I'm Abby."

Reno nodded politely and scuffed his feet. "Umm…wasn't…isn't there one more?" He glanced over at a freckle-faced boy with his hat on backwards in an imitation of his older cousin. The boy was taller than Reno and most certainly older, but with broader, stouter features. His hair was a plain dusty brown and his eyes an uninteresting dun color. Nevertheless, next to Abby, Reno thought he looked like a rather sporting companion. "Who's that?"

Abby frowned. "_That _is my brother. He's not important. C'mon, Reno, we're playing house."

"Aww…Abs, leave the kid alone. Maybe he wants to play Frisbee?" Allison proposed, holding up the disc the older kids had been tossing about.

Reno opened his mouth to agree, but Abby grabbed his arm and yanked him off towards a small clump of trees where she had started setting up various logs and sticks to represent household furniture. "Now you pick up the logs and we'll make chairs."

Submissively, Reno grabbed one of the logs and dragged it over to where Abby was pointing. "When…when we're done with house, can we play knights?" Reno asked hesitantly, wondering if it was possible to have a girl knight. He brightened. "You can be a wench."

Abby looked affronted and crossed her arms over her chest. "No! We're playing house until we leave! And the next time too! We _always _play house."

"Oh." Reno sighed, slightly dejected. He picked up a moss-covered stick and thought about what a perfect Emerald Sword it would make and how his knights sat un-played with in the wagon and dragged the stick on the ground.

"Get to work! We're playing a new game now. I'm the princess and you're my servant. Slave! Bring me the biggest log you can find!" Abby sat down on one of the logs and crossed her legs.

Reno sighed. In his opinion, Abby was a lousy princess. "Real princesses don't act like that," he protested.

Abby's blue eyes narrowed and she stood up and put her hands on her hips. "Oh _really_? What would you know? You're only seven! I'm _ten_! I'm _way_ smarter than you are. Can you spell Nibelheim? It's N-I-B-E-L-H-I-M-E. I bet you can't spell that!"

"But…" Reno started to argue. "Princesses don't…"

"Fine," Abby snapped. "I'm a rich girl now. And you're my puppy. A poodle."

"A poodle?" Reno echoed plaintively.

"Yes! Now, get down on your hands and knees and follow me. We're going to the park." Abby shoved Reno to the ground and removed the strap from her purse, clipping it onto his shirt collar. "Speak boy!"

Reno growled instead and made a half-joking attempt to bite his cousin. He thought it would be more ironic if he were a vicious poodle, if he had to be a poodle at all.

Abby squealed and thumped him solidly on the head. "Bad dog!"

Reno whimpered and rubbed at his crown. "Owwie!"

Abby picked up the stick Reno had found earlier, his perfect sword, and hurled it into the forest. "Fetch!"

Reno obeyed sullenly, more for sake of retrieving the "sword" than submitting to his cousin's schemes. He passed a few trees until Abby disappeared from view, trying half-heartedly to find his stick.

"Are you looking for this?" Reno looked up to see the freckled boy from before, who was holding his stick out, the knob that Reno thought would make a good cross piece closest, so the "sword" was extended hilt first.

"Yeah…" Reno sighed and took the stick, digging its point in the underbrush. He glanced up. "Is that your sister?"

"Yup," the older boy sighed. "I'm Arty."

"I know a good orphanage you could send her to," Reno proposed seriously. "The nuns are real mean and they don't let girls wear pigtails."

Arty looked at Reno strangely for a moment, trying to divine if his new cousin was serious or not. Then he let out a whooping laugh. "That'd show her."

Reno grinned. He sent his stick whooshing through the air in a downward cut. "Cut off her head. Like Lotheraldan did to the Liche Queen."

Arty's dull face lit up. "You like Knights of the Round?"

Reno nodded vigorously. "Yup. Brought a buncha my knights."

"Really? My mom wouldn't let me bring mine…you wanna play? I'm not very good though…I got a lousy imagination. My teacher told me so," Arty admitted, sounding apologetic.

"That's ok!" Reno answered cheerfully. "I know lotsa games. Me 'n Howie play Knights all the time. He's got a lousy imagination too, so he's usually Arardo." Reno brandished his stick with a practiced ease that came from many summer afternoons of stick wielding. "Come, Sir…which one do you like?"

"Orion," Arty voiced, striking a clumsily noble pose.

"Come, Sir Orion!" Reno proclaimed, then snickered. "We must deliver a mustard bomb to the evil Liche queen."

Arty looked blank for a few seconds, then nodded hesitantly. "Umm…pray tell, what's a mustard bomb, Sir…"

"Lotheraldan," Reno supplied, waving his sword and grinning wickedly. "I'll tell you in a minute. C'mon. We need to find a stronghold."

"I know one! I know a good one! There's an old treehouse in the forest! Me and Ally used to play here when we were little! I'll show you!" Arty exclaimed, excited to be able to aid his imaginative new cousin in creating his game.

"A tree fort? Really?" Reno looked impressed. "That's perfect. I didn't even know there was a tree fort in this forest."

"Renooooo!" Abby's howls echoed around the forest. "Come _back _here!"

Reno paled slightly and clutched his hands about his throat, gagging and making his large green eyes bulge. "Orion! The…Liche Queen…her evil…zombie powers…"

Arty looked entranced and slightly worried by his playmate's display, but glanced up fearfully as he heard his sister crashing through the brush. A spark of imagination lit up his features and he scooped Reno's stick off the ground, thrusting the hilt at his friend. "The Emerald Sword will keep her away!"

Latching onto the idea, Reno snatched the stick and recovered almost instantly from his zombie-induced convulsions. "To the stronghold!"

Arty nodded vigorously and started off into the forest, his slightly lumbering gait providing an odd counterpoint to his cousin's quick scamper, but the pair made good time. Arty seemed to have a fairly good grasp of where he was going and even though they had long since shaken Abby loose, they kept running as though a horde of undead were on their tails.

"Up here, Sir Lotheraldan!" Arty indicated a tree where a slightly battered looking rope ladder hung down, leading up into the leafy canopy where a small shack could just be made out, hidden by the green.

Reno nodded and made a hasty salute with his sword, pausing and wondering what he would do with it while climbing the ladder. He noticed he still had Abby's purse strap attached to his collar and undid it quickly, twisting the end a couple times around the hilt of his sword and tying three quick knots. Looping the rest of the strap about his waist, he tied a few more knots and scrambled up the ladder. Arty hauled him up into the treehouse and pulled the ladder up in case of pursuit while Reno sprawled out on the rough wooden floor of the fort, breathing hard.

He had to admit, it was a near perfect treehouse. There was a large hole in the roof that cast a dappled green light onto a makeshift table in the corner, a window was cut facing in the direction they had come from in an ideal location for watching for enemies, and a door in the back led out onto a small balcony.

"You ok, Reno?" Arty asked, looking down at his cousin, who was an awful lot smaller than he was and apparently winded a lot easier.

"I'm fine," Reno answered promptly, scrambling up and making an attempt to untangle his sword with something that resembled reverence. Giving up, he wriggled out of his sword belt and placed his sword on the table, where the flickering light caught it and almost made it seem like the real Emerald Sword.

Arty snickered quietly. "Sir Lotheraldan doesn't have a pink sword belt."

Reno opened his mouth to protest about the color of his sword belt, but clicked his jaws shut when he looked at the undeniably pink strap. "It _is_ quite pink," he admitted forlornly.

Arty frowned. "A Knight can't have a pink sword belt. Especially not one of the Knights of the Round…and_ especially _not Lotheraldan, because he carries the Emerald Sword. Green doesn't go with pink."

Reno shook his head seriously, trying to come up with a way out of the paradox. It might have been ok if the strap had been purple or blue, but Abby was just the type to ruin a perfectly good sword belt by making it pink. "It…was a gift," Reno began slowly. "From a princess."

"What princess?" Arty asked.

"Princess…Perpetua," Reno answered, making up the name on the spot. "She doesn't know a thing about colors. She made it for me after I saved her from a fire-breathing dragon.

"Oh. Ok." Arty accepted Reno's explanation happily and grinned. "What did you say about a mustard bomb?"

Reno laughed a decidedly evil laugh for a seven-year-old and began explaining his plan to Arty in the low, fervent tones that knights always used when devising plans to dispose of villains.

--------------------------------------------

There was a slight rustle underneath the tablecloth that covered picnic table of food. A small hand snaked out from underneath, feeling along the top of the table for something. The fingers of the hand found a bottle of mustard and grasped it triumphantly, pulling it under the tablecloth.

"Got it!" Reno exclaimed in a whisper, spinning the top of the squeeze bottle and shaking the container. "Hold the balloon open."

Arty grinned, stretching the mouth of the balloon open with his chubby fingers. Reno's plan had started with a balloon he found in his pocket, and would reach its climax upon the delivery of the airborne, condiment filled balloon to Abby. Already, the rubber bulged under the weight of ketchup, relish, some mayonnaise (all three added because Reno hadn't been immediately successful in retrieving the mustard), a baby dill pickle, two olives, a dead beetle, and a half can of cola that Reno had rescued from a garbage can.

Carefully, Reno squeezed the sides of the bottle, smiling as a smooth stream of bright yellow mustard flowed into the balloon. "This is gonna be great."

"Yup," Arty agreed, nodding eagerly. "Should we tie it off now?"

Reno gave the mustard bottle a last squeeze and returned it to the table. "Yup. Let's go back to the stronghold, Sir Orion." Crawling covertly out from underneath the table, Reno ambled casually towards the forest by the picnic grounds, promptly getting his ankles entangled in the "Emerald Sword" and sprawling on his face.

"Whoa there." A pair of hands picked him up and set him on his feet and Reno turned to see what was obviously an older cousin with glasses and a book in one hand. "You ok?"

"Yup," Reno reported cheerfully, watching Arty slinking towards the forest with the precious payload tucked under his shirt out of the corner of his eye. "Who're you?"

"I believe I'm your cousin Marcus," the slender young man answered. "What are you up to?"

"Oh, just playing," Reno answered nonchalantly, relieved that Arty had managed to disappear into the woods. "I tripped on my sword."

"Oh? And what's your sword's name?" Marcus asked, sounding genuinely interested, not faking like most adults did.

"Taragon," Reno answered proudly, stating the name of the famous Emerald Sword.

"The Emerald Sword," Marcus whistled. "Then may I presume that I converse with none other than the renowned Sir Lotheraldan? An honor, my lord." Marcus bowed deeply.

Reno beamed. "You've read the books," he approved, readjusting his sword at his side.

Marcus winked. "That I have. I suppose you want to get back to your game?"

"Yup." Reno paused. "Could you send Abby to come get us when it's dinner time?"

"Sure. Pray, where is the stronghold of the mighty Knights of the Round?"

Reno grinned. "In an old tree fort that Arty showed me."

"Ah. I see. I'll send Abs around when it's time for supper then. Have fun, kill lots of zombies."

"I will! Thank you!" Reno scampered off towards the forest, taking care not to trip on his sword. Quickly, he made his way back to the tree fort and clambered up the rope ladder.

"Welcome back, Sir Lotheraldan," Arty greeted him with a grin.

"I like Marcus," Reno declared, sitting down on the floor of the treehouse and extracting from his pocket a cookie he had "liberated" from a plate, breaking it in half, and offering a piece to Arty while munching thoughtfully on his portion.

"He's nice," Arty agreed, accepting the cookie. "He likes Knights of the Round. He's read the real books, not the kids versions."

"Wow," Reno remarked through a mouthful of cookie. He'd seen copies of the six hundred page behemoths of the KotR series. There were at least a dozen of the books, each centered on a different magical jewel.

"So what's the plan for the mustard bomb?" Arty asked, gesturing at the distended green balloon that sat on the table.

Reno grinned. "Abby's gonna come get us for dinner. When she gets under the trapdoor, we drop it on her."

"We're gonna get in _trouble_," Arty said delightedly. "Blabby-Abby'll tell on us."

"I'm not too worried. Flabby-Abby doesn't scare me. I don't think my mom and dad will hit me like the nuns did," Reno answered casually, stretching out comfortably and marching a plastic knight that he had retrieved from his wagon across the floor.

"They hit you?" Arty gaped.

"Not too often. And not as hard as they hit the bigger kids. I didn't get hit as much once Lisa came." Reno sighed. "I miss Lisa. She was my friend…"

Arty was silent for a few moments and Reno continued to march his knight around. Suddenly Reno sat bolt upright, eyes alight. He heard someone tramping through the forest, leaves and stick crackling beneath their feet. Holding a finger to his lips, he crept on his stomach to the trapdoor, motioning to Arty to grab the balloon. Keeping away from the edge of the hole in the floor so as to keep out of Abby's sight. There was a pause in the sound of Abby's approach and the rope ladder suddenly went taut as Arty placed the balloon in his cousin's crumb covered fingers.

Reno licked his lips a bit nervously, holding the balloon with both hands. "One…two…three!" Reno dropped the balloon, square in the center of hole in the floor. There was a delicious splat as the mustard bomb contacted its target…followed by a yell that was most certainly _not _Abby.

The howl of laughter died on Reno's lips and he glanced fearfully at his cousin, who had turned several shades paler. Mentally, Reno tried to figure out which member of his newfound family he had hit, wondering if he would be able to get his old bed at the orphanage back.

"_NOT _cool, Small Dudes!" a voice shouted up into the treehouse. Reno dared a peek out of the treehouse at his oldest cousin who stood with mustard, ketchup, relish, mayonnaise, and cola covering his face and chest, and Reno's dead beetle stuck to the lens of his sunglasses.

"We hit Paul…" Arty moaned. "We hit _Paul_…"

Reno bit his lip, trying to think of a way out of the situation. Glancing around the interior of the treehouse (which now looked very much like a rat trap, considering the likely murderous cousin at the bottom of the rope ladder), his eyes fell on an old metal bucket beneath the hole in the roof. It had rained a few evenings previous, and the vessel was full of water, with only a few dead bugs floating it. Deciding it was his only option; Reno snatched the bucket, dragged it over to the trapdoor and emptied the contents onto his cousin.

There was another shout from below, garbled slightly by the sudden introduction of water, then silence. Reno paused for a few seconds, still holding the bucket.

"What did you just _do_?" Arty gasped, staring at his cousin, eyes wild.

Reno shook his head and knelt down by the opening in the floor, sticking his head out. Paul sat on the forest floor, drenched and looking slightly dazed with watery condiments running down his face and clothing. Clearing his throat, Reno spoke up. "We _may_ have accidentally hit you with the balloon, but we _did_ do our best to clean you up too."

Paul looked up at his cousin, expression unreadable due to his sunglasses. Reno wondered if he would have to go back to his old class, or if he would have to be held back and go with the first graders at the orphanage. Suddenly, there was a whoop of laughter from below.

"Small Dude, _you _are god!" Paul laughed.

Arty stuck his head out next to Reno. "You aren't mad?"

"No way! You little dudes kick as…butt!"

Reno grinned, relieved. "Ok. We're coming down now, is it suppertime?"

"Yep. C'mon, small dudes." Paul removed his sunglasses for a moment and flicked them so the bug flew off.

"Coming!" Reno started down the ladder, reflecting on how much he liked his family.

--------------------------------------------

Julia looked up from packing the food from supper away in a cooler. The troupe of cousins had returned from their walk around the park, just as it began to get dark, fireflies dancing and lighting up the night. Abby rode on Christian's back, chattering happily, while Arty and Marcus talked intently about the Knights of the Round series. Allison and Cheryl were immersed in a giggly whispered conversation, and Reno dozed, apparently having fallen asleep in the middle of a generous piggyback, courtesy of Paul.

"The Small Dude is zonked," Paul announced as he approached the circle of parents gathered around a small bonfire, handing Reno to his mother.

"Zonked?" Julia repeated, looking at her nephew with slight disapproval. "Marilyn, what does 'zonked' mean?" A little apprehensively, Julia examined her son, for any signs of Paul's influence.

"Just sleeping," Marilyn answered on her son's behalf.

"Oh," Julia sighed, relieved. Gently, she deposited her son on the blanket just outside the ring of firelight, where Glenn and Melissa's baby Zach was sleeping in his car seat. Taking a jacket, she slipped it over his shoulders and ruffled his hair fondly.

Returning to the fire, she took her place beside Melissa and rubbed her arms. "Both sleeping."

"The family's newest additions," Manuel pronounced quietly, sliding an arm around his wife's shoulders. "They're both most welcome."

There was silence around the fire for a while. Christian had retrieved a guitar and was tuning it quietly, when a wail from Zach broke the stillness. Melissa got up quickly and went over to the blanket.

"The baby woke up," Reno reported sleepily, sitting up and scooting over next to the car seat where his smallest cousin was whimpering.

"I noticed," Melissa said softly, reaching out and rocking the car seat gently. "Shh…c'mon, Zackles, quiet down…"

Reno leaned forward, examining the infant. "He's a very good baby," he pronounced, waving a little at Zach. "Hi, there!"

Melissa beamed. "I know. He's six months old."

"Would he like it by the fire? I was gonna go sit with my mommy and daddy, but I didn't want to leave him alone…"

"I'm sure he'll like it," Melissa answered, smiling at her nephew.

"Ok." Reno ambled into the firelight and climbed into his mother's lap, nestling close against her and shivering a bit. Automatically she tightened her arms around him and rubbed her fingers up and down his arms.

"Play something, Chris," Marcus suddenly appealed to his cousin, looking up from his book.

"Ok," Chris agreed. "I'll play 'Goodbye'." He began a slowly weaving melody, fingers moving with a grace and ease. The song was simple, yet at the same time complex. There was something lulling about the repetitive countermelody, yet something quietly sad in the main melody. Reno found himself falling asleep as the last notes of the song faded away, his mother humming and continuing the soft air, just for him.

--------------------------------------------

"Reno, honey, you're hurting Mommy's fingers," Julia said, gently prying her hand from Reno's grasp.

"Sorry…" he mumbled, slipping his fingers through her belt loop instead and avoiding eye contact with any of the other second grade students at Pinewood Elementary. Summer had flown by, mostly long days in the park, walks in the evening, picnics, and punctuated by a trip down to Costa del Sol for a weekend, which Reno had been absolutely ecstatic about.

"Hey, it's ok…look, there's Howie." Julia pointed across the room to where Howie sat, playing with several other boys.

Reno brightened slightly, but only for a second. His expression of joy at seeing his best friend was replaced by fear as a tall man in a sweater and jeans strode up to Julia.

"Hello there, you must be Mrs. Anderson." The teacher extended his hand politely. "I'm Mr. Morris."

"Pleased to meet you. I'm Julia….and the little boy attached to my right leg is Reno."

"Well, howdy Reno," Mr. Morris greeted him, dropping down to eye level with Reno.

Reno managed to turn a slightly apprehensive eye away from his mother's corduroy slacks for a second, before burying his face in her thigh again.

"Shy," Julia mouthed apologetically, weaving her fingers through Reno's hair.

Mr. Morris nodded knowingly. "Would you like to come play with the other boys, Reno? There's a new 'Knights of the Round' castle with all thirteen action figures that got picked up over the summer and I think the guys are looking for someone to be Lotheraldan…"

Reno's eyes lit up and he clung to Julia with a little less resolve. "Really?"

"Uh huh. Hey, Howie, is there room for another Knight?" Mr. Morris called.

Howie looked up from playing and grinned when he caught sight of Reno. "Hiya Reno! Come play, no one took Lothar…Laterot…Tatertot…Loathera…no one took your guy, so we got room!"

"Ok!" Reno quickly returned the hug his mother bent down to give him and lightly kissed her cheek. "Bye, Mommy! Come pick me up later!"

"Bye-bye, Reno, I love you…" Julia chuckled as Reno immediately joined the fray of small plastic knights attacking grotesquely twisted green goblins.

"Kids…" Mr. Morris laughed. "Can you tell me a bit about your little boy?"

"Reno tends to ask a lot of questions…" Julia explained. "A _lot_ of questions. And they're never too easy to answer. One of his favorites is 'why do good things happen to bad people?'. He actually has a bit of a personal vendetta against President Shinra because he thinks Mako pollutes the environment."

Mr. Morris grinned. "I think he'll fit in very well…now, he isn't your biological son?"

"No, but you wouldn't know it to look at him."

"You certainly wouldn't. It looks like he adapts very quickly." Mr. Morris observed Reno strapping a doll to a catapult and launching the "Liche Queen" over a tower of blocks, much to the amusement of the group of boys he played with. "He's creative too."

Julia smiled. "He'll do wonderfully. He's very bright."

"I'm sure he is."

--------------------------------------------

The winter season arrived with a flurry of snow and as soon as possible, Reno joined the tide of little boys gallivanting around the park building snow forts and having snowball fights. The park across the street became a veritable battleground, crisscrossed with boot tracks and the imprints of small bodies where valiant knights had toppled in battle, only to be resurrected by their comrades after a suitable minute of mourning had passed.

Julia looked out across the street over a steaming mug of coffee. "Oh…Reno isn't wearing his scarf…"

Geri chuckled. "I'll wager he isn't. Clever little fellow's probably using it as a banner of war."

"I don't want him getting sick."

"One thing you'll learn about kids, dear, is that they've got remarkably resilient immune systems. My Howie's been out in shorts and t-shirt in the middle of a rainstorm and playing pirates the next morning."

"I suppose…" Julia sipped the aromatic coffee slowly. "Did you and Michael plan for children?"

Geri shook her head and grinned. "Nah. Howie just sorta happened. We were both tickled pink though and we love him more than anything."

Julia smiled sadly. "We planned. But it wasn't in the cards. I was devastated at first, but then Rich suggested we look into adopting. So we went down to St. Charles Orphanage and met Reno. He's so sweet, just a perfect little boy. There's something about him. Even when he's up to his knees in mud with scraped elbows and a grass-stained white t-shirt, he still manages to look the picture of innocence. Of course, he's very contrite afterward. He lives under the shadow of fear that he'd get sent back to the orphanage."

Geri nodded. "I know what you mean…"

"Mom!" Reno yelled from the foyer. "We're back!"

Julia got up and jogged down the front hall stairs to where Reno and Howie stood, dripping water on the floor and grinning.

"Reno Charles Anderson, you were _not_ wearing your scarf," Julia scolded sternly.

Reno looked slightly apologetic as he tugged off his headband and mitts. "I'm sorry, but Sir Orion broke his arm in a joust and he needed a sling. Howie's scarf was too big and Kirby's was too small so we used mine and it fit perfect."

"I don't want you getting sick," Julia explained patiently, helping Reno out of his jacket while Howie struggled to disentangle himself from his snow pants. "Do you and Howie want some hot chocolate?"

Howie nodded energetically and Reno smiled. "Marshmallows?"

"Big ones."

"Yes, please!" Reno jumped over the puddle of water that was left by the melting snow and clambered up the stairs. "C'mon Howie!"

"I'm coming Reno…" Howie tugged off his boots and scrambled after Reno, slipping a bit on the icy water.

Julia picked her way through the maze of damp clothing and up the stairs to the kitchen. Reno was already perched on his customary chair at the foot of the table babbling about all that he and Howie had done that day.

Geri chuckled as the boys interrupted each other, filling in the details that the other forgot.

Julia poured two mugs of hot chocolate, popping a marshmallow in each and setting them on the table in front of Reno and his friend. "There you go. More coffee, Geri?"

"If you don't mind." Geri handed her mug back to Julia who refilled it quickly.

"So what were you guys up to?" she asked, setting her friend's coffee cup down and sitting back in her place.

"Playing knights…" Reno explained, licking some of the white foam of his half-dissolved marshmallow from his lips.

"As usual." Julia smiled. "Are you going to the Winter Carnival this year, Geri?"

"Of course! We go every year, like clockwork!" Geri squeezed Howie's shoulder.

"It's soooo much fun! There's hay rides and a big Christmas tree and skating and hockey and snow sculptures and big igloos, Reno you gotta come!" Howie said excitedly.

"Can we go, Mom? Please?" Reno asked pleadingly.

"I can't see why not. It sounds like fun. When is it?"

"Week after next," Geri answered.

"Well, we'll be there."

--------------------------------------------

Reno wandered into the living room and sat down on the couch between his parents. Usually at eight in the evening he'd be in his room, playing, but instead curled up beside his mother and laid his head on her arm.

"Reno, honey? Something wrong?" Julia asked.

"Don't feel good."

"Aww…" Julia placed a pillow on her lap. "Lie down, sweetie."

Reno complied and curled up, tucking his knees against his chest and half closing his eyes. The news was on and Julia soon returned her attention to the television set and the daily news in Midgar. Every once in a while, Reno would have a slight fit of coughing and breathe heavily for a bit afterward.

Julia gently touched his forehead. "Reno, I think you have a fever…"

"Mmm…"

Biting her lip, she ran her hand up and down his back comfortingly. "Do you want to go up to bed?"

"Wanna stay here…"

"Ok…I said you'd get sick if you played outside without your scarf."

"Sorry…" he mumbled.

Julia examined him with a concerned expression. His face was flushed and his half-closed eyes were almost glassy looking, reflecting the images that flickered across the television screen. Resting her hand on his back, she could feel his breathing was labored. "Rich? Does he look sick to you?" she asked worriedly.

Richard turned from the TV and looked at Reno. "Well, he certainly doesn't look too healthy. Reno? Are you feeling ok?"

"No…"

"What's the matter?"

"Chest hurts."

Julia drummed her fingers gently on his back. "Do you want to go the doctor?"

"Don't care…"

Anxiously, Julia wove her fingers through his messy red hair. "Something's wrong, he hates the doctor," she said softly to Rich.

"I know what you mean. What do you want to do?"

"Is there a walk-in clinic open?"

"There's one on Fourth Avenue. Do you think we should stop in?"

"Yeah…" Julia gently lifted Reno from the couch. "Reno? We're going to take you to see a doctor, ok?"

" Mmm…'k…"

"Rich, go get his jacket and boots," Julia directed.

"Right," Rich nodded, getting up and heading for the front closet.

Julia stood up, still holding Reno and feeling his breathing on the side of her neck, almost shallow. "Oh, Reno, what's wrong?"

"Dunno…'m sick…" Reno coughed again, spasms shaking his entire body.

"I know, honey, I know…" Julia met her husband at the top of the stairs and helped Reno pull his boots on, then gently unclasping his hands from behind her neck and slipping his jacket on. Transferring the half-conscious child to her husband, she grabbed her own coat and boots. "Let's go."

Rich followed her to the car, moving to open the backdoor and put Reno in his customary place.

"No, put him with me," Julia said firmly, holding out her arms after she'd buckled herself in. Richard complied and his wife cradled Reno gently, letting the boy wrap his arms around her neck. "Oh, Reno…"

--------------------------------------------

"Rich, go see if we can get an appointment…" Julia sat down, pulling off Reno's jacket and rubbing a hand up and down his back.

Richard headed for the counter where a secretary waited and quickly made an appointment. "We can see him in about fifteen minutes…hey, Reno, how're you doing?" he asked compassionately, touching the boy's forehead.

"Bad…" Reno mumbled, burying his face in the fur ruff of Julia's jacket.

"Stay tough, kid, you'll be ok…"

"Mmm…"

"My poor little Reno…" Julia softly hummed to herself, kissing Reno's forehead gently. "Oh, baby, you're burning up something awful…"

"Not a baby…"

Rich grinned. "That's right. You're a big boy."

Twenty minutes later, a nurse poked her head in the door. "The doctor will see you now."

"It's about time," Julia muttered under her breath.

"Be nice…" Rich chided.

"Well, I don't want to have a delay if there's something wrong with him!"

"I'm sure he's fine, but we won't know unless we talk to the doctor."

Julia sighed, getting up and entering the doctor's office. "Reno? I'm going to put you down now…"

"No…" Reno protested drowsily, wrapping his arms around her neck tighter.

"All right, all right…" Julia sighed and closed her eyes, resting her cheek against Reno's messy hair.

"Good evening, Mrs. Anderson, I'm Dr. Lemoine," an older doctor with graying hair greeted her politely. "And who's this little chap?"

"This is Reno," Julia answered, not looking up.

"Hello there, Reno. What seems to be the matter?" the doctor said kindly as Julia turned him around to face the doctor.

"Sick…"

"Where exactly are you sick? Can you show me?"

Reno lifted a hand and rubbed it over his chest. "Hurts."

The doctor nodded understandingly, putting the ear-pieces of his stethoscope into place. "Now this will be a little cold…" Gently he slipped a hand up Reno's sweater and pressed the cold metal disk at the end of the instrument to his chest. "Could you take a big breath for me, Reno?"

Reno nodded and inhaled shakily, coughing after.

"Uh…huh…" Dr. Lemoine repositioned the end of the stethoscope at the small of the child's back. "Again please?"

Weakly, Reno breathed in again, laying his head on his mother's shoulder.

"Ok…" The doctor removed his stethoscope and pulled a penlight from his pocket. "Look at me, Reno…"

Julia smoothed the few strands of red hair that fell in Reno's eyes out of the way as the doctor pointed the light into his eyes. His pupils contracted, but his eyes were still glassy. "Hmm…"

"Do you know what's wrong?" Richard asked anxiously.

"Well…you've got quite a sick little boy on your hands…does he have a history of respiratory illness?"

"Tuberculosis when he was a baby…" Julia answered, stroking Reno's back. "Is it serious?"

"A bit of an infection, but his immune system isn't strong enough to take it on its own."

"What should we do?" Julia asked.

Reno looked up, his green eyes suddenly apprehensive. "Needles?" he questioned fearfully, voice trembling slightly.

"No, no needles," the doctor answered kindly.

"Good." With a slightly relieved sigh, Reno nestled his head in the hollow between his mother's neck and shoulder, closing his eyes again.

The doctor took a small bottle of a syrupy looking liquid from a cupboard. "Give him a half dose of this every four hours. Normally, a full dose would be given, but he's a bit small for his age and we don't want the antibiotic overwhelming his system. It should help relax the muscles around his lungs so he'll breath a bit easier, but it also causes extreme drowsiness. The infection should clear up within a week. He could take some now, if you want to give it to him. The sooner the better."

Julia nodded and accepted the quarter-full paper cup the doctor handed her. "Reno, drink this, ok? It's medicine to help you feel better." Carefully she held the vessel to his lips and felt his warm palm touch her hand, lifting it the rest of the way.

"Ugh…" Reno mumbled, finishing the last of the liquid. "Mommy…that…tastes awful…" Reno trailed off, eyes falling shut and head lolling limply onto his shoulder.

"Does it always take effect that fast?" Richard questioned.

"It's a very effective tonic," the doctor responded, ruffling Reno's hair fondly. "Poor little guy."

"Should he stay in bed for the next few days?" Julia asked, attempting to thread one of Reno's arms into his jacket.

"I would think that's best. He won't be up to doing much and you should keep his fluid intake up."

"Right. Thank you, doctor," Richard shook Dr. Lemoine's hand and ushered his wife out the door. "We'll call you if there are any complications."

Julia stormed out the door of the clinic, eyes blazing. "How dare he? Giving a child such a powerful drug…he was snuffed right out."

"At least he's breathing easier and if he needs it to get better then it's for the best." Richard took Reno's sleeping form in his arms, cradling him gently as Julia climbed into the car.

"Oh…" Julia wiped some of the medicine from the corner of Reno's mouth with a finger as Richard deposited him on her lap. "He's sleeping at least…he'd have been up half the night, coughing like he was."

"I'll bring him a present tomorrow, after I get back from work."

--------------------------------------------

Julia crept into Reno's room; half hoping the little boy was awake. "Reno?"

There was no answer from the little lump curled up under two blankets and a quilt on the bed. Julia sighed, sitting down with the bottle of medication in one hand. "Reno, honey, wake up…" She reached out to shake his shoulder and discover that the lump was _not _her son, rather a wadded up ball of sheets. With a smile she sighed, got up, and walked to the door. "I'm sorry, Howie, Reno's asleep right now. Maybe he can play later…"

"Howie's here?" a muffled voice from under the bed exclaimed. There was a shuffling noise under the bed and seconds later Reno popped his head and shoulders out, only to be snatched by his mother, deposited back in the middle of the bed, and tickled viciously.

"No, Howie isn't here you awful little boy, lying to your mother…" Julia smiled as she tickled Reno's stomach, experienced fingers finding precisely the spots he left undefended as he writhed on the bed, giggling as he tried to avoid her.

"Mommy, stop…" he gasped, still laughing. "Not an awful little boy…"

"Oh really?" Julia let up with her tickling and faced the gasping child with an impish smile.

Reno shook his head, laughing between breaths.

"Oh, Reno…I'm sorry, that was probably a bit too much for you. Here, have a glass of water…" Julia handed him a carefully measured dose of medicine and he took it, swallowing the contents without hesitation.

"Blech!" Reno gagged, choking on the foul tasting liquid. "Mo-om!"

"Well, I'm sorry, but you have to take your medicine."

"But it makes me so tired…everything already feels fuzzy…" Reno rubbed his eyes in irritation.

"I know, but it's almost all gone and the infection is nearly cleared up already. We'll celebrate your recovery by going to the Winter Carnival!"

"Yeah! That's this week, isn't it? What's it like? Is there lots of snow? Can I go skating? Do I have skates? Are there Chocobos? Can I ride one? Are they big black war Chocobos like the ones in 'Knights of the Round'? Like Dark-Justice? He's Sir Lotheraldan's Chocobo, I really, really like him. Once, he even ripped the leg off a goblin and…Will Howie be there?…Can I ride…what about…could I…bring the Sir Lotheraldan Dad got me…?" The flow of Reno's inquisition slowed to a trickle and his eyelids started dropping.

"Yes to everything but the Chocobo riding," Julia laughed. "I can tell you're excited when you start interrupting yourself."

"Aww…" Reno closed his eyes and burrowed under the blankets, smiling slightly when Julia kissed his cheek.

--------------------------------------------

"C'mon! Gotta go!" Reno stamped his booted foot impatiently, kicking the front door. "Mom! Dad! We're gonna be late!"

"Just a minute, Reno!" Julia yelled down the stairs. "Rich, go amuse him." Still in her stocking feet, Julia was preparing a thermos of hot chocolate for once the family arrived at the Winter Carnival.

"Can do," Rich hurried down the stairs to where his son was waiting, fully dressed to go outside, as he had been for the past fifteen minutes.

"Are we leaving? Yay! All right, let's go!" Reno dashed out the door, before Rich could get a word out.

Chuckling, Richard pulled on his boots and jacket, along with his mitts and toque. Following his son out into the front yard, he covertly bent to tie the lace of his boot, scooping up a handful of snow in the process. "Hey, Reno…"

"Yeah, Dad?" called a voice behind him. Rich grinned. This was almost too easy. Slowly he turned around, drawing his arm back. He whirled the last bit of the way and grinned at Reno, just in time to catch a face full of snow.

"Hey!" Rich wiped the snow from his eyes and gave his son a mock glare. "Oh, you'll pay for that…"

Reno laughed and tore off around the back of the building. "Try and catch me!"

Rich gave chase obligingly, catching his son around the waist and hurling him into a fluffy pile of snow. "Hope you're ready for the coldest snow wash of your life…"

"Never!" Reno jumped on his father and stuffed a handful of snow down the back of his jacket.

"Eeyow! That's cold!" Rich scooped Reno up and hoisted him over his shoulder, ignoring the little boy's giggly shrieks. "Oh, you're in for it now…"

"Lemme go!" Reno kicked and pounded his fists on his father's back. "Lemme gooooooo!"

"No way, kid, we're going to the Snowdrift of Doom to give you the biggest snow wash in the history of the universe."

"Nononononononono!" Reno squirmed and wriggled in Rich's firm grasp.

"Rich! Reno! Cut it out!" Julia scolded, coming out of the house and around the side where Rich was preparing to drop Reno in a snow bank.

"Aww…" Reno protested as Rich held him upside down easily, scarlet hair dangling from his head. Reno's hair had gotten long enough for him to wear in a short ponytail. Julia personally thought he looked very cute.

"We were just having fun…" Rich grumbled.

"Please return my son to his full and upright position before all the blood runs to his head."

Reno laughed as Rich set him on the ground. "We gotta go, the sun's going down…"

"Uh huh. It'll be dark soon," Julia agreed, climbing into the car. Reno clambered into the backseat behind her. "Seatbelt?"

"Yup." Reno tugged the belt at his waist. "All buckled."

"Way to go," Rich praised him, sliding behind the wheel and buckling his seatbelt. The car backed smoothly out of the driveway and down the street.

"Is it far?' Reno asked.

"About ten minutes. It's on the far side of the park, by the river."

"Oh, ok." Reno amused himself by playing with a small plastic figure of a knight his father had bought him. Noncommittally, he marched his knight across the seat next to him. "Mom?"

"Yes, dear?"

"Umm…is it bad if…if I like you better than I like my real mom? I mean, I never even knew who she was and she can't have loved me very much if she dumped me at an orphanage and didn't even try and find me…" Reno sniffled a bit, rubbing at his eyes with the sleeve of his jacket. "Why didn't she like me? I was just a little baby, I couldn't have done anything wrong, could I?"

Julia twisted around in her seat, smiling tenderly and gently squeezing Reno's hand. "I don't know who your mother was. And I don't know what made her give such a sweet, intelligent, kind little boy like you away. But I know that by some miracle, you're my little boy now. And I love you more than anything. I always will. I wish I could have had you ever since you were a little baby, but now I just look forward to having you grow up as my son. My little Reno."

Reno smiled. "I love you…"

Even though the event haunted his nightmares for years afterward, Reno never knew what happened next. He could remember a blinding flash of light, and then a flurry of sound, a horrific crunching noise, a piercing scream, and a loud crash as the small sports car hit the water. The only other noise he remembered was a loud rushing as the icy cold Midgar River poured into the car. After that there was only silence and dark swirling water as the vehicle sank beneath the crust of ice on the surface of the river.

--------------------------------------------

_"What happened?!"_

_"I…I don't know for sure…that truck over there slammed into a car and sent it into the river…"_

_"Oh dear god…what about the people inside?"_

_"I don't know…some guy jumped in after it went under."_

_"In that water?! It's gotta be cold as ice!"_

_"Has anyone got a PHS? Call emergency services, fast!"_

_"Hey! Is that…someone get down there and give him a hand!"_

_"Oh god…he's…that's just a little boy…"_

_"Get up on the bank, put him here…"_

_"Has anyone got blankets or something? Here, give him one…hey, man, you're a hero!"_

_"I-i-is the k-k-kid alive?"_

_"Calm down…Christ, we better get you to a hospital or something…"_

_"Is he ok?"_

_"…does anyone know CPR? I don't think he's breathing…"_

_"Here! My wife and I…"_

_"Get over here fast. Back up people, give 'em room…"_

_"Oh…c'mon kid…don't die…"_

_"W-what's going on? I-is he ok? God, he isn't…he isn't dead, is he? He's just a little guy, he can't…he's only like six years old…"_

_"Shh…calm down, he'll be ok…Here, you sit with him, Jess."_

_"Where're you going?"_

_"I'm gonna check on that kid…"_

_"Does anyone have something with a glass screen?"_

_"What? Why? Is he dead?"_

_"Shut up, just give it to me! A watch, a cell phone, glasses, anything…"_

_"Here."_

_"C'mon… please…yes! Someone, quick, pass me a blanket or something…when's the ambulance going to get here?"_

_"Is he alive?"_

_"Barely…poor little guy…"_

_"I bet it was him and his parents in that car…"_

_"Shh…quiet…does anyone hear sirens?"_

_"No it's just the…"_

_"Yes! Quick, get someone over there to show them where to come."_

_"Hold on, kid, you aren't outta the woods yet."_

_--------------------------------------------_

Sister Lisa looked up as she heard a soft knock on her door. She smiled fondly, glancing at the battered matchbook that lay beside her bible and rosary. With a sigh she shook her head. Reno wasn't knocking on her door. Reno was far away, across almost two whole sectors, living with a loving family. The knock came again, more insistent this time. "Yes, I'm coming…" Answering the door, she was surprised to find Sister Agnes waiting. "Good evening, sister…I wasn't expecting to see you so late…"

The elderly nun had a very grim expression on her face. "Elisabeth, I have some…very sad news."

"What? What's the matter?"

"You remember the little boy who was adopted almost a year ago? Charles?"

"Reno …what about him?" Lisa asked worriedly.

"Yes, well…he's…there was a car accident, near the river in Sector Five. Poor child's parents were killed and he'll be rejoining us if…if he pulls through…"

Lisa bit her lip and tried to hold back the tears that sprang unbidden to her eyes. "Oh…God, why Reno? Has not the child seen enough hardship and pain? He's just a little boy…don't burden him with this…"

Sister Agnes wrapped a comforting arm around her shaking shoulders. "There now…I've arranged leave for you. He has no other family who can retain custody and you always held a special love for him. He's at Daniel Jacobs Memorial Hospital. Take a bus to…"

"To the station on Shinra and Main and get a train to Sector Five. From there I'll head east to catch a bus on Henderson and walk the rest of the way from the stop on McPhillips."

Agnes pursed her lips. "As long as you know where you're going, Godspeed and the hopes and prayers of all our orphanage go with you."

"I know Sister, thank you…" Lisa shut the door behind Agnes as she swept out of the room and grimly changed clothes. A pair of jeans, a t-shirt, and a denim jacket, as well as leather boots replaced her modest nun's habit. She took a backpack from the small chest at the foot of her bed and tucked a bible, her rosary, and a bottle of water. She picked up the matchbook and gently tucked it in her pocket to ensure the small memento didn't get lost. Meager belongings packed, she withdrew a small piece of metal that looked almost like a section of pipe. With a flick of her wrist, she twisted it and the simple device unfolded into a metal staff, almost her height. With another twist, she locked the segments in place and attached a cross on the end of a length of chain to the top. She hefted her backpack and slipped out the door, stealing through the hallways.

Exiting the orphanage she took a deep breath and headed east, her days as a wandering missionary coming back to her. The urgency of her journey put a spring in her step and she wove her way through the bustling crowd on the streets quickly. She noted a couple other travelers, marked by their trail worn clothes and staffs similar to hers. Halfway to the bus station, she encountered the very problem she had brought the staff to deal with. As she passed a darkened alley, she heard a scuffle and felt a hand grab her from behind. Swiftly, she swung her staff backwards, driving the end into the solar plexus of her attacker. She heard a wheezing gasp behind her and dropped her staff lower, swinging it again and sweeping the man's feet from beneath him. Turning around a delivering another sharp jab to his midsection to ensure he was sufficiently winded, she muttered under her breath. "O loving God, have mercy on me, a sinner…God bless you sir, try not to sneak up on innocent nuns like me anymore."

Leaving her wheezing assailant, she threaded her way through the crowds, mind still half afire with concern for her young friend.

--------------------------------------------

Lisa entered the hospital cold, tired, and anxious. Her fingers were numb from gripping her pole so tightly as she had walked to the hospital through the pre-dawn mists of mid winter. Reaching the counter, she laid the weapon at an angle against the desk and politely waited for the clerk to finish on the phone.

"DJM Hospital, how may I help you?" the young woman asked brightly.

"I'm looking for a little boy by the name of Charles Reno Anderson, he should have come in last night. He was in a car accident and…"

"Oh yes…" the girl nodded sadly. "The poor thing, both parents dead…are you a relative?"

"Actually I work at the orphanage where he was originally from. I came to see him."

The girl blinked. "You don't look like a nun."

Lisa smiled wearily, indicating the cross on the end of her staff. "I'm not of the St. Charles order. I'm from the Sisters of the Planet. We're a very mobile order and a habit isn't the most convenient to travel in."

"That explains the weaponry…well…your little Charles is in the Intensive Care Ward."

Lisa bit her lip. "Can I see him? Please, he has no family…now, the orphanage is all he has left…"

"I'll pull a few strings." The young woman winked and squeezed Lisa's hand.

"Thank you…"

Lisa sat down in the small waiting room, collapsing her staff and tucking it into her backpack. A few minutes later a nurse came to escort her upstairs. Following the woman to a quiet hallway in the pediatric ward, she stopped in front of the door and took a shaky breath. Steeling herself, she nodded to the nurse and the woman swept the door open.

Lisa stood speechless, rooted to the spot at the sight of her young friend, IV's and tubes draining fluid into his body and a small machine monitoring his heartbeat. "No…oh, dear god, no…why? He doesn't deserve this…" She felt the nurse hold her tightly as she sank to the floor, sobbing.

"Shh…it's ok, he's going to be all right…"

"Oh, Reno…" Lisa stood up and brushed the tears from her eyes with the back of her sleeve. Almost numb, she walked forward and knelt by the bed, reaching out with trembling fingers to touch the back of his hand. She shuddered and choked back a sob at how cold and pale his skin was. With a little more determination, she wrapped her fingers around his, squeezing gently. On a sudden impulse she pulled out the matchbook, hesitating before depositing it on the bed. She then undid the chain around her neck, from which a small medallion hung. Tucking it into the matchbook securely, she carefully closed Reno's fingers around it. "I'm sorry this had to happen to you…"


End file.
